Use of superheated liquid dispersion technique for measuring alpha-emitting actinides in environmental samples

This paper presents a novel fast screening technique of measuring concentrations of alpha-emitting actinides in environmental samples. This novel technique is called superheated liquid dispersion (SLD), which involves dispersing fine superheated liquid (e.g. Freon-12) droplets into a mixture of glycerin and the actinide-containing chemical extractant. The interactions between alpha particles and superheated liquid droplets trigger bubbles. Therefore, one may relate the number of bubbles to the actinide concentration in the sample. The results obtained from the computer simulation and the experiment support the above claim.