A rapid method for determining strontium-90 in urine samples

Rapid bioassay methods for 90Sr in urine samples are needed to provide an early estimation of possible internal dose resulting from exposure to radiostrontium in the event of a radiological and nuclear emergency. In this work, a fast column separation method followed by liquid scintillation counting for detection of 90Sr in urine was developed. Replicate spike and blank samples were analyzed for performance evaluation of the method. Using this method, a detection limit of ~10 Bq L−1 for 90Sr can be achieved with a sample analysis turn-around time of 4 h for a set of 12 samples. The method is adequate to meet the radiobioassay acceptance criteria and is suitable for quick dose assessment of 90Sr exposure following a radiation emergency.