HASL-300, 28th Edition
Technetium-99 in Water – TEVA Resin
Contact Person(s): Salvatore C. Scarpitta
(Currently at Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Application
This procedure has been applied to the analysis of water.
The sample containing 99Tc is equilibrated with 95mTc, a gamma-emitting tracer. The technetium is separated from other elements by ferric and ferrous hydroxide precipitation from ammoniacal solutions. The sample is then passed through a commercially available column that selectively extracts Tc(VII) from a 0.1M HNO3 solution. Technetium is purified, eluted from the column and counted directly in a suitable liquid scintillation cocktail. Typically, the sample is counted for 1h to simultaneously determine 99Tc activity and the 95mTc recovery.
Quench/efficiency calibration curves need to be established for the liquid scintillation spectrometer for both 95mTc and 99Tc.