An optimized radiochemical method for the quantification of 36Cl in irradiated concrete from nuclear decommissioning

The radiochemical methods for the characterization of hard-to-measure radionuclides are often complex, laborious and expensive, especially in the case of solid samples. The present work aimed at developing a new optimized method based on Cherenkov counting for the determination of 36Cl in activated concrete. The primary goal consisted in improving simplicity and cost-effectiveness with respect to currently available methods without sacrificing performance. A chemical recovery of ≈ 90% and high decontamination from interferents were demonstrated. The method also proved to be scalable to large sample masses for clearance purposes, thereby achieving a detection limit < 5 mBq g–1.