Development of measurement methods for specific radionuclides from ESS

ESS is categorized as a facility requiring a licence from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM). As a licenced source, ESS is obliged to optimize the radiation protection to limit the exposure to ionizing radiation for members of the public. Furthermore, environmental consequence assessment of accidental releases may cause ground deposition requiring clean-up measures. To fulfil the obligations of environmental monitoring and maintain an emergency preparedness against accidental releases, it is crucial to use analytical methods that can quantify trace levels of the radionuclides that may result in this effective dose.
Our goal with this project is to establish expected detection limits for ESS specific radionuclides such as Gd-148, W-187, Hf-172, Ta-182 and Hf-178n that are relevant to the dose received in an accident scenario for various analytical techniques. The research plan has been divided in the following tasks:
1. gamma spectrometry and indirect gamma spectrometry (detection of radionuclides with pre-established quantitative ratios of difficult-to-measure radionuclides)
2. ICP-MS
3. alpha spectrometry (for aerosols)
4. neutron activation analysis
These methods will also be tested on actual environmental samples collected near the facility. The most appropriate chemical treatment of the sample for each technique will also be determined if necessary (task 5).