Method comparison for 241Am emergency urine bioassay

Am-241 is one of the high-risk radionuclides that might be used in a terrorist attack. Am-241 in urine bioassay can identify the contaminated individuals who need immediate medical intervention and decontamination. This paper compares three methods for the measurement of Am-241 in urine, namely liquid scintillation counting (LSC), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gamma spectrometry (GS), at two levels, 20 and 2 Bq l(-1). All three methods satisfied the ANSI N13.30 radiobioassay criteria for accuracy and repeatability. ICP-MS offered the best sensitivity and fastest sample turnaround; however, the ICP-MS system used in this work may not be available in many bioassay laboratories. LSC and GS are more commonly available instruments. GS requires minimal or no sample preparation, which makes it a good candidate method. Moreover, the sample throughput can be significantly improved if the GS and LSC methods are automated.