Rapid quantification of radiocesium dissolved in water by using nonwoven fabric cartridge filters impregnated with potassium zinc ferrocyanide

This paper presents a cartridge filter incorporating a nonwoven fabric impregnated with potassium zinc ferrocyanide (Zn-C) to effectively concentrate and quantify cesium dissolved in water. Experiments conducted with 137Cs in conditioned water showed that at a flow rate of 2.5 L/min the filter could absorb 97.9% of dissolved 137Cs from 20 L of water; high recovery efficiency was achieved over a pH range of 3–10. Test measurements of 137Cs concentrations using Zn-C in river water agreed with the results derived by using an evaporative concentration method (within the counting error of the detector). Using this method, the pre-concentration time of radiocesium in 20 L of fresh water can be reduced to just 8 minutes.