Conceptual design for comprehensive automation in radiochemical analysis of bioassay samples

Bioassay Laboratory of Health Physics Division is entrusted with the task of carrying out the bioassay monitoring of occupational workers from various plants / divisions of BARC e.g. FRD, FCD, RCD, WMD, UED etc. for various radionuclides like Pu, U, Th, 90 Sr, 3 H etc. On the average, about 1400-1500 analyses are performed on 700-800 urine samples collected annually from radiation workers. The number of samples has increased in the recent years and is expected to increase further. Hence, it is planned to carry out automation in various stages of sample handling and processing to cope up with the expected increase in workload. The present paper describes the conceptual design for fabrication of comprehensive automated system for radiochemical analysis of bioassay samples.