Importance of measurement radioactivity in drinking water

Abstract

The determination of radionuclide contents in drinking water is defined by the Rulebook on radioactivity monitoring in Republic of Serbia. For determination of drinking water quality in terms of radiological safety, simultaneous measurement of gross alpha/beta activity is usually performed using gas proportional counting technique or liquid scintillation counting technique. These measurements are suitable as a preliminary screening procedure to determine whether further analysis of individual radionuclides is necessary. For individual radionuclide identify, other techniques can be applied: alpha spectrometry, gamma spectrometry or tritium activity determination by liquid scintillation and determination of 90Sr by measuring beta radiation after radiochemical preparation. This paper presents overview of method used for drinking water quality determination from the aspect of radiological significance included legal regulations and permitted values of radionuclide concentrations in drinking water in Serbia.