A review of measurement methodologies and their applications to environmental 90Sr

The high fission yield product Sr-90 has been released into the environment in large amounts due to nuclear weapon tests, nuclear power plant accidents, and nuclear fuel reprocessing industries. It is a long half-life radionuclide (28.9 y), with serious consequences to human health; hence, it is desirable to perform routine monitoring of Sr-90 in environmental samples. Many Sr-90 radiometric methods have been developed in the past decades, which generally require complicated separation and purification steps with a relatively long analytical time. Moreover, some nominally rapid methods usually have high method detection limits, making them unsuitable for the environmental samples with ultra-low Sr-90 levels. In this review, some rapid and practical methods for Sr-90 routine monitoring are summarized. Different sample pretreatments and major purification procedures for Sr-90 developed in recent years, such as variable digestion methods and extraction chromatography using Sr resin or DGA resin, are especially described. Additionally, four conventional and widely used 13 spectrometric and mass spectrometric methods are demonstrated. Finally, Sr-90 evaluations focusing on contaminated soil and seawater samples collected after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, and Sr-90 application as tracers for environmental behavior are also reviewed.