Background


Plastic Scintillators (PS) are known since the origin of the development of the scintillation techniques in the 60' but their use has been especially focused to dosimetry and large area detectors for gamma radiation. In the last decade, the interest for the application of Plastic Scintillators in form of microspheres (PSm) to radionuclide determinations has significantly increased mainly because: their detection capability of alpha and beta emitters is similar to liquid scintillation cocktails (except for low beta emitters), their use do not produce mixed waste (sample and PSm can be segregated after measurement), PSm can be used in continuous determinations and because PSm are an excellent solid platform to introduce selectivity strategies by unifying radionuclide separation and detection in a single element, the Plastic Scintillating resins (PS resin). The introduction of PSresin in the routine separation procedures allows saving time and reagents.

Tarancón, A.; Bagán, H.; García, J. F. “Plastic scintillators and related analytical procedures for radionuclide analysis” Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 314 (2), p555-572 (2017).

http://www.ub.edu/questram_r/research/PSm.html


Key Concepts


The objective of this workshop is to introduce the participants to the fundamentals of both PSm and PSresins and, especially, to the practical aspects of their use on routine analysis.

This workshop includes an overview of the fundamental of PSm and PSresin, their potential application to radionuclide determination and practical aspects related to chemical separation, sample preparation and measurement.

The workshop duration is 2.5 days distributed half to presentation of the theoretical aspects and half to the practical work in the laboratory.

The organizers Marina Saáz, Dr. Héctor Bagán, Dr. Alex Tarancón and Dr. Jose F. García (the last three, members of the University of Barcelona) are involved in the research on Plastic Scintillators for analytical purposes since 1995.

Number of places will be limited to 10.


How you will benefit from this course


In this course you will:

  • Acquire deep fundamentals knowledge of plastic scintillation techniques
  • Discuss about its possibilities and applications
  • Understand the details related to the use of PSm and PS resins
  • Prepare and measure samples with including alpha and beta radionuclides by using PSm and PS resins



Program topics




Morning

  • PSm: general overview. Advantages/disadvantages of PSm
  • Mechanism of scintillation: quenching and calibration
  • Alpha/beta discrimination
  • Applications: salty samples, alpha/beta indices, radon determination, continuous monitoring
  • Ongoing developments

Afternoon

  • Sample preparation: practical aspect PSm
  • Preparation of vials
  • Measurement of samples prepared



Morning

  • Discussion of results: spectra distribution, detection efficiency, background and α/β discrimination of samples measured by using PSm
  • PS resins: general overview. Advantages/disadvantages of PS resins
  • Applications: 14C salty samples, 90Sr in milk in emergency situations, 99Tc in urine, 210Pb in sculptures
  • Ongoing developments

Afternoon

  • Reuse of PSm
  • Sample preparation: practical aspect PS resins
  • 99Tc and 90Sr determination in water samples
  • PS resin cartridges measurement



Morning

  • Data treatment: chemical yield, detection efficiencies and spectra distribution and activity determination
  • General discussion and closing remarks

Program

Lecturers: Marina Sáez, Héctor Bagán, Alex Tarancón and José F. García.

Workshop language will be English


Registration


Registration will be performed in two steps:

PRE-REGISTRATION

Please fill the pre-registration form and return it by e-mail to jfgarcia@ub.edu. Deadline .

Acceptance list and registration form will be submitted to pre-registered participants by e-mail before .

REGISTRATION OF FINAL ATTENDEES

Attendees will be contacted to complete the registration process.
Deadline .

Final program of the workshop will be published at the same time.



Send the Pre-registration to:


Important Dates and Deadlines!


: First announcement
: Deadline for pre-registration
: Acceptance list
From to : Registration
From to : Workshop



Venue


The workshop will take place at the:

University of Barcelona
Faculty of Chemistry
Deptartment of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry
C/ Diagonal 645
08028 - Barcelona, Spain



Registration Fee


325 € (include Material, documentation, coffee breaks and Wednesday and Thursday lunches)



Contact


José F. García (jfgarcia@ub.edu) and Alex Tarancón (alex.tarancon@ub.edu)
Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry
University of Barcelona
c/ Martí i Franquès 1-11
08028 Barcelona, Spain

Telephone +34 934021281
Fax. +34 934021233



Travel and Housing


Participants are responsible for their own travel, meals (except included in the registration fee), and housing arrangements.