Radiological Chemistry

Completely avoiding radioactivity is impossible.  Radionuclides are found in air, water, soil, and even living things. People are exposed to background levels of radiation all the time.  Radionuclides generally enter drinking water through erosion or chemical weathering of naturally occurring mineral deposits, although human activity (such as mining, industrial activities, or military activities that use or produce man-made radioactive materials) can also contribute to their presence in water.  Evidence suggests that long-term exposure to radionuclides in drinking water may cause cancer.  In addition, long-term exposure to uranium has toxic effects as a heavy metal as much as its effect as a radionuclide.  EPA recently created "RadTown USA", a new Web site that uses an animated town to provide basic information on radiation in the environment. "RadTown USA"; is a virtual community showing the wide variety of radiation sources commonly encountered in everyday life. Discover "RadTown USA" at http://www.epa.gov/radtown/.

Services Available: The Radiochemistry Laboratory is the newest analytical discipline to be offered by the Environmental Laboratory.  Certification has thus far been granted for Radon²²² and Uranium²³⁸  in drinking water, Gross Alpha in drinking and raw waters, and Gross beta analysis in drinking and raw waters.  Our goal for the future is to expand in-house analytical service to include other radionuclides such as tritium, radium ²²⁶, radium²²⁸, and gamma/photon emitter analysis.  These services are currently available as subcontracted analyses.

Types of samples accepted for analysis:

• Drinking water (Well & Public Supply)
• Raw water (Lakes, Streams, Ponds, Rivers)
• Estuarine water
• Wastewater (Influent & Effluent)