Radiochemical procedure and quantitative determination of the activation product, 63Ni, in environmental soft water samples with high Ca and Mg phosphate concentration

Nickel-63 is a low energy beta-emitter needing a radiochemical separation before β-counting. Several papers described the separation and the detection of 63Ni in environmental samples. The method used in our work was first developed by Skwarzec and Holm. The main steps of this separation are the selective precipitation of nickel with dimethylglyoxime (DMG) and the use of the non-sorption of nickel on anion resin in hydrochloric acid solutions. In this paper, a new step is added to eliminate high quantities of calcium and magnesium phosphate disturbing the iron hydroxide precipitation step. The procedure has been applied to soft water samples: sediments, plants and fishes. The chemical yields are 60, 70 and 20%, respectively. The detection limit of 63Ni by liquid scintillation spectrometer is 10 mBq.