Application of flow analysis in determination of selected radionuclides.

The subject of this article is the review of developed applications of flow analysis methods for determination of radionuclides hard-to-detect in reactor cooling waters ((90)Sr, (239,240)Pu, and (241)Am), and also (99)Tc, which are released to the environment primarily through nuclear fuel processing. Flow analysis, which developed for decades parallel to flow methods of chemical synthesis, is widely employed in modern chemical analysis, mainly for environmental, food analysis and pharmaceutical applications. It allows the simplification of design of analytical instruments and procedures, the shortening of analysis time, improvement of precision, and often the automation of whole analytical procedure. All those factors can be also advantageous for determination of critical radionuclides for process needs and protection of environment. The review is based on 84 references, published mainly in leading analytical journals.