Concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in Marcellus Shale produced water presents a challenge for effective management and treatment, because of the vast fluid volumes generated. With an increased emphasis on beneficial reuse and resource recovery from the produced waters, a rapid, yet reliable, method for quantifying radium in these produced waters is needed. The high total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration introduces difficulties when measuring ²²⁶Ra by recommended EPA methods that were specifically developed several decades ago for drinking water. While other techniques for measuring radium in these high-TDS fluids have since been developed, these newer techniques often require extensive and complicated pre-concentration steps; and they thus require extensive analytical chemistry skills, utilize hazardous chemicals like hydrofluoric acid, demand long holding times or measurement times, and require high sample volumes. We present a rapid method for ²²⁶Ra measurements in high-TDS produced waters by liquid scintillation counting, which has been corroborated herein by concurrent gamma spectrometry analyses. Samples were prepared for analysis by evaporating the fluid and re-suspending the evaporate with acidified distilled deionized water prior to liquid scintillation counting for 1 h. This protocol yielded radium recoveries ≥93%. Per this protocol, the alpha and beta spectra of ²²⁶Ra and its daughters were computationally separated by alpha-beta discrimination and spectrum deconvolution. The minimum detectable activities of ²²⁶Ra was 0.33 Bq/L (9.0 pCi/L) when the counting time was 60 min and the sample volume was 4 mL. Nine produced waters of varying TDS and radium concentrations from the Marcellus Shale Formation were analyzed by this method and compared with gamma spectroscopy; and these yielded comparable results with an R² of 0.92. The reduced sample preparation steps, low cost, and rapid analysis position this as a well-suited protocol for field-appraisal and screening, when compared to comprehensive radiochemical analysis. We offer that for a given produced water region, routine and local liquid scintillation analyses can be compared and calibrated with infrequent gamma spec analyses, so as to yield a near-real time protocol for monitoring ²²⁶Ra levels during hydrofracturing operations. We present this as a pragmatic and efficient protocol for monitoring ²²⁶Ra when produced water samples host low levels of ²²⁸Ra—since the progeny of ²²⁸Ra can significantly confound the LSC analyses.

Marcellus页岩采出水中自然产生的放射性物质（NORM）的浓度对产生有效的管理和处理提出了挑战，因为产生的流体量很大。随着对从采出水中有益的再利用和资源回收的日益重视，需要一种快速而可靠的定量这些采出水中镭的方法。测量²²⁶时高的总溶解固体（TDS）浓度会带来困难Ra是由几十年前专门为饮用水开发的推荐EPA方法提出的。此后，虽然已经开发出了用于测量这些高TDS流体中镭的其他技术，但这些较新的技术通常需要大量且复杂的预浓缩步骤；因此，他们需要广泛的分析化学技能，需要使用氢氟酸等有害化学物质，需要较长的保持时间或测量时间，并且需要大量的样品。我们提出了²²⁶的快速方法通过液体闪烁计数在高TDS采出水中进行Ra测量，在此同时通过伽马能谱分析证实了这一点。通过蒸发液体并用酸化的蒸馏去离子水重新悬浮蒸发物来制备样品进行分析，然后进行液体闪烁计数1小时。该方案产生的镭回收率≥93％。根据该协议，通过α-β识别和光谱去卷积在计算上分离了²²⁶ Ra及其子代的α和β光谱。最低可检测活动²²⁶当计数时间为60分钟且样品体积为4 mL时，Ra为0.33 Bq / L（9.0 pCi / L）。用该方法分析了来自Marcellus页岩层的9种TDS和镭浓度不同的采出水，并与伽马能谱进行了比较。这些结果可比，R ²为0.92。与全面的放射化学分析相比，减少的样品制备步骤，低成本和快速分析使其成为适合现场评估和筛选的方案。我们提供对于给定的采出水区域，可以将常规和局部液体闪烁分析进行比较，并通过不频繁的伽马光谱分析进行校准，从而产生用于监测的近实时协议²²⁶水力压裂作业中的镭含量。我们提出此作为监测务实高效的协议²²⁶时所产生的水样主机低水平镭²²⁸镭自的子代²²⁸ R a可以显著混淆LSC分析。