A novel approach for the determination of 238Pu by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) using interfering element correction methodology

Static, Mixed-Array Total Evaporation for Improved Quantitation of Plutonium Minor Isotopes in Small Samples

“…As an aside, incorporation of the higher Ohmic resistors in mixed array strategies theoretically may also be used for more confident correction of isobaric interferences (e.g., correction of 238 U overlap U measurement) [9] in total evaporation efforts and for greater constraint of chronometric windows associated with Pu-U (e.g., 238 Pu/ 234 U) decay relationships. Benefits from this strategy, however, will likely vary widely depending on material type/history, sample preparation, etc.…”

Critical comparison of radiometric and mass spectrometric methods for the determination of radionuclides in environmental, biological and nuclear waste samples

“…TIMS has been used for the determination of isotopic composition and concentration of different elements including radioisotopes of some elements, such as uranium, thorium and plutonium since 1980's [5,29,[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89]. In TIMS a small volume (down to 1 μl) of aqueous solution containing the target nuclides or element in the nanogram to microgram range is deposited on a cleaned filament surface (mostly high-purity Re) and evaporated to dryness.…”

“…These inherent effects limiting the capability of isotope ratio measurements by TIMS can be considered by different internal calibration techniques or by using isotopic standard reference materials with well-known isotopic ratios for an element. Besides, U, Th and Pu, TIMS has also been used for many other radionuclides, such as 41 Ca, 241 Am, 242 Cm, 126 Sn, 226 Ra, 228 Ra [82,[90][91][92][93].…”

High resolution alpha-particle spectrometry for the determination of 240Pu/239Pu atom ratio in Pu samples from PHWR

“…The 240 Pu/ 239 Pu atom ratios in these samples were also determined by thermal ionization mass spectrometry using a double filament assembly of high purity rhenium and a static mode of multicollection using a multi Faraday cup Collector system [6]. An uncertainty of about 0.01% (relative standard deviation) was obtained for 240 Pu/ 239 Pu atom ratios using an amount of about 5 g of Pu loaded on the filament.…”