Preparation of reference sources for calibration of surface contamination monitors using Nafion ion exchange membrane

A method was set up to prepare reference sources for calibration of surface contamination monitors using Nafion HP membrane to fix the radioactive nuclides on aluminium backing material. By investigating the adsorption mechanism including kinetics and pH, it has been proved the 241 Am could be fixed on the membrane effectively. The surface emission rate and the activity was measured to characterize the sources. In addition, the uniformity of the sources was evaluated according to ISO 8769 and the standard deviation of the surface emission rates from each individual portion of the whole source was no greater than 5%.