Radiochemical analysis of environmental and nuclear decommissioning samples
25th July 2024
Radsol CEO Dr. Jung-Suk Oh's laboratory houses three Hidex 300 SL liquid scintillation counters.
At a glance
> Hidex 300 SL LSCs are being used by Radsol for nuclear and environmental monitoring in South Korea, where two reactors are currently being decommissioned.
> The company provides radioanalytical services to the Korean Research Institute of Standards and Science.
> Applications include measuring 3H in seawater, bioassays for radiation workers, and nuclear waste characterisation.
Supporting the decommissioning of NPPs
The Hidex 300 SL is being used by Radsol for the radiochemical analysis of environmental and nuclear decommissioning samples in South Korea. The country is the world’s fifth biggest generator of nuclear energy with a total of 26 reactors providing 26 GWe of electricity, approximately a third of all electricity produced. Two reactors – Kori 1 and Wolsong 1 – have been shut down and are currently in the process of being decommissioned.
Radsol specialises in the measurement and analysis of radioisotopes, providing the Korean Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) with a range of radioanalytical services including measuring 3H in seawater, bioassays for radiation workers, and nuclear waste characterisation. The company has three 300 SLs to achieve a high throughput of work.
Kori 1 (far right) is South Korea’s oldest nuclear reactor. It was shut down in 2017 and decommissioning is expected to take 15 years, having started in 2022.
Alpha/beta separation
Radsol provides analysis of all radionuclides, so the 300 SL’s ability to discriminate between alphas and betas has proven critical to its work. The separation of isotopes is visualised through Hidex’s MikroWin software, which uses a horizontal Pulse Length Index (PLI) that acts as an alpha/beta discriminator. This differentiates alphas with longer pulse lengths above the PLI and betas with shorter pulse lengths below it.
An example of alpha/beta separation using MikroWin software.
Radsol’s 300 SLs were supplied by Hidex’s local Korean distributor, B&B. Radsol CEO Dr. Jung-Suk Oh originally studied environmental radioactivity and worked at the National Metrology Institute of Korea and KRISS before founding Radsol. Dr. Oh said, “Hidex instruments are being used for radioactivity measurement in various industries in Korea, from nuclear power plants to environmental monitoring. While the process of introducing a new or different instrument manufacturer to users can be slow, the change has already started happening, and I am happy to be one of the key opinion leaders in Korea.”
Find out more
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