A flow injection-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric (FI-ICP-MS) procedure, utilising ultrasonic nebulisation with membrane desolvation (USN/MD), has been developed for the determination of plutonium (Pu) in seawater at fg l −1 concentration levels. Seawater samples (1 l), after filtration, were subjected to co-precipitation with NdF 3 , followed by ion exchange to enrich Pu and to reject seawater matrix ions and co-existing uranium. The seawater concentrate (1.0 ml) was then analysed by FI-ICP-MS. The limit of detection for 239 Pu in seawater based on an enrichment factor of 1000 was 5 fg l ) and 0.051-0.196 pg l −1 (0.428-1.646 mBq l −1 ), respectively. ᭧
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