New method to improve analysis quality of radioactive elements invented by Moroccan scientists
A new method to improve the analysis quality of radioactive elements in various types of samples, by using solid state nuclear tracks detectors (SSNTD) was invented in Morocco by Abdeslam El Harti and Hicham Maaouni of the "Centre d'etude de recherche et d'analyses des radioelements (CERDAR).
The new method was presented at the 22nd International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids held in Barcelona (Spain) on 23-27 August 2004, Maaouni told the Moroccan news agency MAP.
The method allows a greater improvement of the quality of analyses of radioactive elements by reducing the costs by about 90 pc, besides being easily applied, said Maaouni.
The method has been approved by the researchers taking part in the Barcelona conference, he added, noting that some of them have asked for cooperation with the CERDAR.
The method will be marketed in the form of a computer software, though the equipment for the installation of the program has to be set up in Morocco, or through partnership with international researchers, the Moroccan scientist said.
The abstract on the invention by El Harti, posted on the conference's web site, says that since the Fifties the solid state nuclear tracks detectors remained ineffective and vague for the dosimetry of the radioactive elements in various types of the samples, due to the ignorance of their truth apparent efficiency of detections.
In order to remove this constraint, El harti suggested a new method for determining the contents of the elements transmitting alpha particles in various types of the samples by using SSNTD.
The new method allows the determination of the function defining the apparent sensitivity of SSNTD with and without absorbing medium. This function represents the efficiency of detection for each type of elements transmitting alpha particles of energy and which are located in an well defined volume element in the to analysed sample.
The applications of this method will allow a great widening of the fields of application for this type of detectors, as well as the birth of a new generation of detector having the best ratio quality/price which could exist in the field of the analysis of the radioactive elements.