Adaptation of a radioanalytical method for Strontium-90 to different kinds of environmental samples and its application for the investigation of some samples in the Riyadh region

A relatively simple and rapid radioanalytical method, limited to milk, is adapted for investigating soil, biological and water samples for Sr-90. The method is based on a selective separation and successive counting of equilibrium quantities of its daughter Y-90, which can be extracted by tributyl phosphate from nitrate medium and stripped by cone. ammonia solution. Y-90 is separated from possible iron and measured by Cerenkov counting. The procedure is thoroughly tested with certified reference materials and used lately for determining Sr-'90 in some environmental samples in the Riyadh region. The results obtained are given and discussed.