Authors:

Pranav Mahesh Kuruba

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About Paper:

Due to the significant health and safety impact of water-borne radionuclides, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) regulations require nationwide monitoring to ensure that radioactivity levels are at/below safe levels; this is especially the case for alpha radiation-emitting actinide atoms such as uranium, radium, radon, etc. Monitoring for ultra-trace (pCi/L) levels of such radionuclides in water supplies is known to be a challenging task. Conventional techniques require days to weeks of laboratory examinations with specialized separations and spectroscopic instruments. This SURF project aims to utilize Purdue's novel tensioned metastable fluid detector (TMFD) sensor technology along with a specially developed protocol for rapidly concentrating actinides via uptake in an inexpensive extractant, Bis(2- ethylhexyl) Phosphate (HDEHP). Once the HDEHP extracts the actinides, it is mixed with a carrier (methanol) to dissolve in the TMFD sensing fluid for rapid evaluation (within hours) of ultra-trace concentrations of uranium isotopes. Previous work has demonstrated that actinide extraction and detection is possible using ~2 v/o HDEHP; the current work has shown that it appears feasible to detect concentrations in the pCi/L range using TMFD technology, alongside using 10 v/o HEDP (for enhanced actinide extraction). If successful, the resulting apparatus and associated protocol are expected to result in a leap forward technique, possibly for use in over 50,000 nationwide municipalities, which annually must obtain such evidence and report to homeowners and federal-state regulatory bodies. Keywords: Tensioned Metastable Fluid Detector (TMFD); Waterborne Radionuclides; Actinide Extraction; Radiation Detection Technology; Ultra-Trace Radionuclide Detection

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

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Co-authors:

Pranav Mahesh Kuruba