AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Volume 7 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.3233/AJW-2010-7_3_07
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Inorganic Elements and Radioisotopes in the Environment: Measurement Techniques and Applications

M. Someshwar Rao1* Bhishm Kumar1 U.K. Singh1
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1 Hydrological Investigations Division, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India
AJWEP 2010, 7(3), 49–67; https://doi.org/10.3233/AJW-2010-7_3_07
Submitted: 9 May 2008 | Accepted: 23 July 2009 | Published: 1 January 2010
© 2010 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

In this review paper, modern nuclear techniques are discussed for the analysis of inorganic elements or tracers, including radioactive species in the environment. Nuclear techniques allow many trace elements to be analyzed in parts per 106 to parts per 109 range in both field and laboratory measurements. For laboratory and in- situ field measurements, techniques of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE), neutron activation analysis (NAA) and radionuclide detection using NaI(Tl) spectrometer, Ge(Li), Si(Li), silicon drift detector (SDD) spectrometer and HPGe spectrometer are discussed. The paper also includes some of the studies carried out using these techniques in various parts of the world. These studies are important not only from the environmental contamination point of view, but also for various other applications.

Keywords
Radionuclide
environmental pollution
XRF
PIXE
NAA
NaI(Tl)
Si(Li)
Ge(Li)
HPGe
SDD
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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