Stability of polymeric scintillating resins developed for ultra-trace level detection of alpha- and beta-emitting radionuclides Christine E. Duval 1 • Timothy A. DeVol 2 • Emily C. Wade 2 • Ayman F. Seliman 2 • Valery N. Bliznyuk 2 • Scott M. Husson 1 Received: 19 January 2016 Ó Akade ´miai Kiado ´, Budapest, Hungary 2016 Abstract This contribution characterizes the stability of scintillating resins for ionizing radiation detection that were synthesized with 2-(1-naphthyl)-5-phenyloxazole (a- NPO) or 2-(1-naphthyl)-4-vinyl-5-phenyloxazole (v-NPO) fluor in polystyrene (PS) or poly(4-methyl styrene) (PVT) matrices. Leaching studies of the PS and PVT resins with methyl acetate show a 60 % reduction in luminosity and 80 % reduction in detection efficiency for a-NPO samples; while v-NPO resins retained detection properties. Degra- dation studies indicate the nitration of PS resins and the fluors after nitric acid exposure, resulting in a 100 % reduction in optical properties; whereas PVT resins with v-NPO fluor maintained 20 % detection efficiency. Heuristics are reported for designing stable scintillating resins. Keywords Environmental water monitoring Á Plastic scintillator Á Radiation detection Introduction The worldwide expansion of nuclear power, increase in nuclear and radiological threats and requirements for environmental monitoring after disasters such as the tra- gedy at Fukushima Daiichi make the need for capabilities in ultra-trace level sensing of radionuclides in the envi- ronment of paramount importance. The ability to rapidly detect and quantify post-detonation radionuclides or mon- itor the spread of radionuclides in environmental waters would be a powerful nuclear forensic tool. Flow-cell detectors packed with extractive scintillating resins have emerged as an analytical technique to meet these envi- ronmental monitoring needs. These resins utilize an organic extractant (ligand) that is selective to an analyte of interest. They are a modern extension of the scintillating ion-exchange resins that were developed in the mid-1960s by Heimbuch et al. [1]. Beginning in 2000, extractive scintillating resins were developed for high-sensitivity aqueous monitoring of a- and b-emitting radionuclides [2]. These resins serve the dual purpose of selectively con- centrating the radionuclide(s) of interest and serving as a radiation transducer. The advantages of these materials are that (1) the radionuclide is retained on the radiation transducer for increased sensitivity, and (2) when coupled with modern radiation detection and measurement instru- mentation, a real-time signal can be collected for analysis. Application of extractive scintillating resins has been demonstrated for the quantification of strontium-89,90 [3], technetium-99 [4, 5], iodine-129 [6], uranium [7] and actinides [8]. For technetium-99, quantification below the maximum contaminant level, as established by the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act, has been reported [9]. A limitation of these resins has been that excellent initial sensor performance is followed by declining performance Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10967-016-4913-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Christine E. Duval cduval@g.clemson.edu 1 Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Clemson University, 127 Earle Hall, Clemson, SC 29634, USA 2 Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University, 342 Computer Court, Anderson, SC 29625, USA 123 J Radioanal Nucl Chem DOI 10.1007/s10967-016-4913-3