post topicality

[melissa (M. Woo)]

Regarding the recent series of posts following the NUCLIAR (sic) TESTING
post...

The original issue raised was the use of the list for propagation of chain
e-mail, but the subsequent discussion seems to have nothing to do with the
subject of chain e-mail.

I understand that the proposed French tests are an extremely heated issue,
especially to our friends in the South Pacific.  However, discussion of
whether the proposed tests are right or wrong is not appropriate to this
mailing list.

A technical discussion of the possible radiological consequences of such
tests, based on specific knowledge of the parameters involved, would of
course be a legitimate topic for the list.  However, seeing that no one
has so far taken an interest, it is probably wisest to let this one
"slide," because such a discussion could very easily degenerate into 
philosophical flame wars.

I should also point out that posts discussing the topicality of this issue
should have been sent to me via private e-mail, rather than posted to the
list.  <cough, cough>

So, that said...

Let's say you have Ni-63 in the form of nickel chloride (NiCl2) dissolved
in approximately 5 mls of 0.1M HCl.  You have to use this as a standard in
a liquid scintillation counter; therefore, you are constrained to a 20 ml
scintillation vial for your chemical manipulations.

There is not enough energy for Cerenkov here, so presumably some fluor has
to be used.  Given that you have 5 mls of an aqueous solution and are
constrained in regards to your total volume, what would you do?

Aquasol (Dupont) does not appear to work; it results in a
semi-opaque/semi-translucent gel.  Various proportions of HCl, Triton X-100
and an organic fluor do not appear to work.  Since the NiCl2 will not
volatilize, evaporation to reduce aqueous volume is a possible solution,
but only as an extreme last resort.

Comments?  Suggestions?

-- 
Melissa Woo                       | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Health Physicist                  | Environmental Health & Safety Bldg., MC225
office phone: 1.217.244.7233      | 101 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL  61801
m-woo@uiuc.edu                    | http://www.cso.uiuc.edu/ph/www/m-woo