2010 R&D 100 Winner
Separation and measurement of both alpha and beta emitting radionuclides is an existing need both in the lab and in the field; but, measurement of many nuclides requires laborious chemical separation before accurate quantification can be performed.
The Automated Radionuclide Separation System—Environmental (ARSIIe) from NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC, Madison, Wisc., has been developed with help from Giant Oak Engineering LLC, Harrison City, Pa., and Sterling Computer Systems Inc., Brookfield, Wisc., to perform these separations of key radionuclides in 20 minutes in a hands-off manner with little waste generation compared to normal manual techniques. As such, it can be used in support of incident-related decisions or contamination events.
The new environmental version (ARSIIe) consists of three major sections. The first is the instrument itself, which houses pumps, valves, fluid lines, resin cartridges or modules, and control electronics. The fluid pathway selections are flexible in that individual solutions can be routed through one to four chemistry modules using multiport valves. Syringes are used to transport the solutions.
The ARSIIe has been designed to process either a single unknown sample across many chemistry modules, or enable parallel single resin processing for up to four individual samples. The permanent record database records time-of-day, instrument protocol steps, user authorizations, and chemistry information contained in RFID tags.
Technology
Radionuclide extraction system
Developers
NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
Development Team
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| (l-r): Dan McAlister, John Young, John Hines, Phil Horwitz, Glenn Isensee, Jim Harvey, Mike Allex, George Messina, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC |
The Automated Radionuclide Separation System – Environmental (ARSIIe) Development Team
Mike Allex, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
James T. Harvey, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
John Hines, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
Phil Horwitz, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
Glenn Isensee, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
Lionel Johnson, Sterling Computer Systems Inc.
Dan McAlister, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
George Messina, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
Mike Krummey, Giant Oak Engineering LLC
John Young, NorthStar Engineered Technologies, LLC
