2.3.4 - Concrete sample oxidation

Radioactivity of concrete from nuclear power plant decommissioning is measured for choosing appropriate radioactive waste management. Tritium is one of the nuclides causing most of the radiation in the concrete. Tritium is liberated from ground concrete sample as ³H₂O and collected into the 600 OX Tritium cocktail. In case of low activity ³H samples, several sample oxidation aliquots (up to 6) can be collected automatically into one LSC vial.

Procedure

1. Concrete grinding and addition into a ceramic sample boat (typically 2 g).

2. Measurement of the concrete sample weight.

3. The ceramic sample boats and empty LSC vials are placed into 600 OX Oxidizer

4. Combustion time of 10 minutes is selected, and number of sample aliquots collected into one LSC vial

5. Start the automated combustion

6. After combustion, cap the LSC vials and measure the ³H activity with a LSC instrument