Comparison of thermal ionization mass spectrometry and Multiple Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for cesium isotope ratio measurements

Isnard, Hélène; Granet, M.; Caussignac, C.; Ducarme, E.; Nonell, Anthony; Tran, B.; Chartier, Fredéric

doi:10.1016/j.sab.2009.10.004

Cited by 25 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…This instrumental mass bias must be corrected for in order to achieve accurate and precise isotope ratio values. One cause of this are space charge effects, as lighter ions are deflected to a greater extent than heavier ions during ion extraction, leading to fractionation towards the heavier isotope relative to the true value [113]. …”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of 135Cs and 137Cs in environmental samples: A review

Russell

Croudace

Warwick

2015

Analytica Chimica Acta

101

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Radionuclides of caesium are environmentally important since they are formed as significant high yield fission products ( 135 Cs and 137 Cs) and activation products ( 134 Cs and 136 Cs) during nuclear fission. They originate from a range of nuclear activities such as weapons testing, nuclear reprocessing and nuclear fuel cycle discharges and nuclear accidents. Whilst 137 Cs, 134 Cs and 136 Cs are routinely measurable at high sensitivity by gamma spectrometry, routine detection of long-lived 135 Cs by radiometric methods is challenging. This measurement is, however, important given its significance in long-term nuclear waste storage and disposal. M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTseparation using an ICP-MS equipped with a reaction cell. The removal of the peak tailing interference is dependent on the instrument used for final measurement. This review summarizes and compares the analytical procedures developed for determination of 135 Cs/ 137 Cs, with particular focus on ICP-MS detection and the methods applied to interference separation. Sources and properties of caesium isotopesHigh yield fission products 135 Cs and 137 Cs (Table 1) are present in environmental samples as a result of releases from nuclear power plants and reprocessing sites, nuclear accidents, and fallout from atmospheric weapons testing [1]. Caesium-137 is established as an important radionuclide in radiation protection, environmental monitoring, sediment dating, land erosion and waste disposal [2]. By comparison, 135 Cs is a long-lived radioisotope with a comparatively low radiation risk; however it is a significant contributor to the long term radiological risk associated with deep geological disposal [3]. Furthermore, the 135Cs/ 137 Cs ratio varies with reactor, weapon and fuel type, and therefore can be used as a forensic tool to identify the source of radioactive contamination [1,[4][5][6]. Other isotopes of caesium include the activation products ( 134 Cs and 136 Cs, Table 1). These shorter-lived activation products (2.06 years and 13.2 days, respectively) provide information on fuel irradiation history and have importance in health physics terms but are not considered further here.( Table 1) Caesium-137 decays by beta emission to short-lived metastable isomer Cs is therefore achievable using beta counting or gamma spectrometry. Gamma spectrometry is generally favoured because it exploits the high gamma intensity of the 662 keV energy that is not susceptible to significant absorption. The ability to directly count most samples without the need for any chemical separation is also beneficial, and a high-purity germanium (HPGe)well detector can readily achieve a detection limit of ~2.5 mBq g -1 (for a 20 g sample counted for half a day), which is suitable for many environmental samples [3]. By comparison, 137 Cs measurement by beta counting in environmental samples requires chemical separation from other beta-emitting nuclides prior to measurement.Caesium-135 decays with a maximum beta particle energy of 2...

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of 135Cs and 137Cs in environmental samples: A review

Russell

Croudace

Warwick

2015

Analytica Chimica Acta

101

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“…Isnard et al 316 have undertaken a comparison of TIMs and MC-ICP-MS for IRA of Cs. Results obtained by the two techniques showed good agreement, with only between 0.2% to 0.5% relative difference for 133 Cs : 137 Cs and 135 Cs : 137 Cs ratios for two nuclear samples.…”

Section: New Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in atomic spectrometry and related techniques

Evans

Day

Palmer

et al. 2011

J. Anal. At. Spectrom.

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“…A special case is the determination of the fission product Cs, since natural Cs is monoisotopic ( 133 Cs) and can therefore not be used as a reference material for mass bias correction. Other elements in the same mass range such as Ba (PSI approach) or Eu and Sb [43] have to be used for the external mass bias correction.…”

Section: Burn-up Determination By Hplc-mc-icp-msmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of nuclear fuels by ICP mass-spectrometric techniques

et al. 2007

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Isotopic analyses of radioactive materials such as irradiated nuclear fuel are of major importance for the optimization of the nuclear fuel cycle and for safeguard aspects. Among the mass-spectrometric techniques available, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and thermal ionization mass spectrometry are the most frequently applied methods for nuclear applications. Because of the low detection limits, the ability to analyze the isotopic composition of the elements and the applicability of the techniques for measuring stable as well as radioactive nuclides with similar sensitivity, both mass-spectrometric techniques are an excellent amendment to classical radioactivity counting methods. The paper describes selected applications of multicollector ICP-MS in combination with chromatographic separation techniques and laser ablation for the isotopic analysis of irradiated nuclear fuels. The advantages and limitations of the selected analytical technique for the characterization of such a heterogeneous sample matrix are discussed.

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Comparison of thermal ionization mass spectrometry and Multiple Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for cesium isotope ratio measurements

Cited by 25 publications

References 26 publications

Determination of 135Cs and 137Cs in environmental samples: A review

Determination of 135Cs and 137Cs in environmental samples: A review

Advances in atomic spectrometry and related techniques

Characterization of nuclear fuels by ICP mass-spectrometric techniques

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