Rapid method for the determination of 226Ra in hydraulic fracturing wastewater samples

A new method that rapidly pre-concentrates and measures Ra-226 from hydraulic fracturing wastewater samples was developed in the Savannah River Environmental Laboratory. The method improves the quality of Ra-226 measurements using gamma spectrometry by providing up to 100 x pre-concentration of Ra-226 from this difficult sample matrix, which contains very high levels of calcium, barium, strontium, magnesium and sodium. The high chemical yield, typically 80-90 %, facilitates a low detection limit, important for lower level samples, and indicates method ruggedness. Ba-133 tracer is used to determine chemical yield and correct for geometry-related counting issues. The Ra-226 sample preparation takes < 2 h.