Quantitative determination of americium in biological materials

A simple, economic and specific radiochemical method for the determination of americium in urine and other biological materials is given. The urine sample is heated in nitric acid to break down any organic complexes of actinides. Insoluble phosphates are precipitated and changed to carbonates. The carbonate solution is passed through a diglycol succinate column and americium is eluted by hydrochloric acid. The eluate is evaporated to prepare a source for counting. The proposed procedure produces high overall yield and the sensitivity of the method is about 0.74 mBq (0.02 pCi). Determination of americium in the presence of other -emitters in urine is also given.