This study presents a rapid and quantitative radiochemical separation method for Nb isotopes in radioactive waste samples from the nuclear power plant with anion exchange resin after Fe coprecipitation. After radionuclides were leached from the radioactive waste samples with concentrated HCl and HNO3, the Nb isotopes were coprecipitated with Fe after filtering the leaching solution with 0.45 micron HA filter, while the Sr, Tc and Ni isotopes were in the solution. The Nb isotopes were separated in HCl medium with anion exchange resin. The purified Nb isotopes were measured using a low level liquid scintillation counter after installing quenching curve with standard Nb-94 isotopes. The separation method for Nb isotopes investigated in this study was applied to neutron dosimeter samples from the nuclear power plant after validating the Nb activity concentration with gamma spectrometry system.

Background : Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is a vegetable with pantropical distribution and contains the active ingredient, such as momordicine and charantin. Moreover, bitter gourd has been reported to exhibit antidiabetic, anticancer, cardiovascular-protective and antioxidant effects. But, the distinctive bitter taste of bitter gourd was not suitable for food preference. This study was conducted to evaluate the improvement effects of bitter taste of bitter gourd with natural fermentation and roasting process. Methods and Results : Bitter gourd fruits were obtained from Headeulnyeokae Co., Ltd.(Gang-Jin 59253, Repubilc Korea). Fruits of bitter gourd were prepared by natural fermentation process for 4h at 25℃. After natural fermentation, the fruits were dried in hot-air dryer for 15h at 49-55℃. The dried fruits were roasted in 500 g batches at 120℃ for 10 min in the electric rotisserie oven. After roasting, fruit pieces were extracted with hot water and cold water. One of them was cool-type, and the other was hot-type bitter gourd tea. In the sensory evaluation, hot tea and cold tea showed the high scores on color, flavor and overall acceptability. Conclusion : These mean that roasted bitter gourd had less bitter, and it could be utilized widely as drink and food material.