Open AccessMESERAN Calibration for Low Level Organic Residues
Author(s) -
M.G. Benkovich
Publication year - 2004
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/822704
Subject(s) - contamination , environmental science , calibration , total organic carbon , environmental chemistry , chemistry , mathematics , statistics , ecology , biology
Precision cleaning studies done at Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T), the Kansas City Plant (KCP), and at other locations within the Department of Energy (DOE) Weapons complex over the last 30 years have depended upon results from MESERAN Evaporative Rate Analysis for detecting low levels of organic contamination. The characterization of the surface being analyzed is carried out by depositing a Carbon-14 tagged radiochemical onto the test surface and monitoring the rate at which the radiochemical disappears from the surface with a Geiger-Mueller counter. In the past, the total number of counts over a 2-minute span have been used to judge whether a surface is contaminated or not and semi-quantitatively to what extent. This technique is very sensitive but has not enjoyed the broad acceptance of a purely quantitative analysis. The work on this project developed calibrations of various organic contaminants typically encountered in KCP operations. In addition, a new analysis method was developed to enhance the ability of MESERAN Analyzers to detect organic contamination and yield quantitative data in the microgram and nanogram levels