Challenge to ultra-trace analytical techniques of nuclear materials in environmental samples for safeguards at JAERI: methodologies for physical and chemical form estimation

Isotope ratio analysis of actinides, fission products, and geolocators by high-efficiency multi-collector thermal ionization mass spectrometry

“…In the nuclear forensic context, isotopic composition [1,2,4,[68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77] is of primary concern, in addition to the determination of physical parameters (including roughness, microstructure, geometry) [2][3][4][78][79][80], chemical structure (e.g., mineralogical structure, metallurgical information, oxidation states) [81][82][83], impurity and analyte content [2,3,77,78,[84][85][86][87], geolocation signatures (e.g., host rock, climate) [3,[88][89][90][91], or age since last chemical treatment [3,90,[92][93][94][95][96]. Isotope ratio analysis can be particularly useful in revealing the origin and history of nuclear materials.…”

“…This includes questions posed by nuclear forensic investigations and the attribution of illegally trafficked nuclear material ("nuclear smuggling") and nuclear safeguards [1][2][3][4][5], bioassay [6][7][8][9][10][11], environmental monitoring [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and post-detonation attribution and nuclear accident analysis [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. These analytical methods are also applied for speciation of actinides and assessment of contaminated sites and nuclear waste repositories [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], studies of geological and biological cycles [36][37][38][39], search for transuranics and extinct or primordial radionuclides in nature [40][41][42][43][44][45][46], burn-up and...…”

Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry

“…These environmental samples are now routinely scrutinised for nuclear particles and their tale-telling isotopic composition using TIMS and other analytical techniques such as ICP-MS, SIMS, and radiometry. 37,76,[186][187][188][189] This is achieved either by performing bulk dissolutions of the smear swipe and subsequent TIMS or ICP-MS analysis, or by micromanipulation of selected particles and subsequent analysis of individual particles, for example, by fission track TIMS or SIMS.…”

Automatic sequential separation with an anion-exchange column for ultra-trace analysis of Pu, U, Th, Pb, and lanthanides in environmental samples

“…Highly pure HCl, HNO 3 , HF (TAMA-Pure AA-10 or AA-100 grade, Tama Chemicals, Co. Ltd., Japan), CH 3 COOH (ultra-pure grade; [99.0 % purity, Kanto Chemical Co. Ltd., Japan), and NH 2 OHÁHCl (guaranteed reagent (GR) grade; 99.0 % purity, Merck Co., Germany) were used without further purification. All treatments were carried out in clean rooms (ISO class 5 and 6) at the Clean Laboratory for Environmental Analysis and Research (CLEAR) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) [18].…”