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Environment Research & Technology Group

The facility undertakes a broad range of analyses for research and industry. The Isotope Tracing in Natural Systems team can provide customised services to suit the particular requirements of each client.

Applications

The facilities can be used in a broad range of fields including:

  • Hydrology
  • Ecology and palaeoecology
  • Geomorphology and geochronology
  • Climate and atmospheric science
  • Food provenance

Capabilities

  • Dating (Lead-210, Cesium-137, Tritium dating of waters)
  • Low-level alpha and gamma spectrometry for determining radionuclides in environmental samples such water, soil, sediment, vegetation, biota and for radon in air
  • Stable isotope analysis of δ2H, δ18O in waters and δ13C, δ15N and CN% in vegetation and biota
  • X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) core scanning for high resolution elemental distributions, magnetic susceptibility, and optical and radiographic images
  • Elemental analysis, including laser ablation of solids
  • Manufacture of specialised semi-portable detectors for outdoor, continuous, monitoring of ambient radon in air.

Labs

  • Environmental Isotope Labs (EIL) equipped with isotope ratio mass spectrometers (IRMS), a Picarro Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer (CRDS), and a range of sample preparation devices
  • Radon Analytical Laboratory featuring a radon rig, liquid scintillation counter, gamma spectrometer; a flux chamber (emanometer); and field instrumentation
  • Analytical laboratory equipped with a quadrupole inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometer (qICPMS), a simultaneous inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICPAES), an anion chromatograph (IC) and a laser ablation unit coupled to the qICPMS or ICPAES for chemical and isotopic composition of solid samples
  • Tritium Laboratory equipped with large and small volume distillation apparatus, 32 electrolysis units and four liquid scintillation counters (LSC) for surface and groundwaters studies
  • Environmental Radioactivity Measurement Centre (ERMC) for low level for the measurement of a wide range of radionuclides, with radiochemical laboratory for processing environmental samples and detectors housed in dedicated instrument laboratories. This laboratory also houses XRF core scanner.

Contact

For enquiries please contact us on user.office@ansto.gov.au or call +61 2 9717 9111.

Access

Access to the Isotope Tracing in Natural Systems facilities via the ANSTO User Portal capabilities section.