Determination of 90Sr/238U ratio by double isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer with multiple collection in spent nuclear fuel samples with in situ 90Sr/90Zr separation in a collision-reaction cell

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

“…AMS emerged in the late 1970s from nuclear physics laboratories and soon became used as an ultra-sensitive mass spectrometric technique for measuring isotopes of elements, and is now widely used for the determination of radionuclides, especially long-lived radionuclides, such as 3 H, 10 Be, 14 C, 26 Al, 32 Si, 36 Cl, 41 Ca, 53 Mn, 59 Ni, 129 I, 182 Hf, 210 Pb and actinides [31,71,72]. Almost all AMS facilities can be understood as two mass spectrometers (called "injector" and "analyzer") linked with a tandem accelerator.…”

“…In nature, 36 Cl is produced mainly by the cosmic ray reactions and thermal neutron reaction of 35 Cl in the hydrosphere (Table 2). However, most of 36 Cl in the present environment has been produced by human nuclear activities since 1950's via the neutron activation reaction.…”

“…However, most of 36 Cl in the present environment has been produced by human nuclear activities since 1950's via the neutron activation reaction. The interest in the determination of 36 Cl in nuclear waste results from the long half life of 36 Cl and its high mobility in the environment, while the purpose of determination of 36 Cl in the environmental sample normally focus on the application of this radionuclide as a environmental tracer.…”

“…The interest in the determination of 36 Cl in nuclear waste results from the long half life of 36 Cl and its high mobility in the environment, while the purpose of determination of 36 Cl in the environmental sample normally focus on the application of this radionuclide as a environmental tracer. 36 Cl is a pure beta particle emitter with a high energy (E max = 708.6 keV, 98.1%), it is therefore mainly measured by beta counting such as LSC [129,130,[136][137][138][139][140][141]. The reported detection limit of LSC for 36 C is 14 mBq using Quantulus TM low level LSC for 50 min counting time [136].…”

“…The reported detection limit of LSC for 36 C is 14 mBq using Quantulus TM low level LSC for 50 min counting time [136]. A complete separation of 36 Cl from the matrix and other radionuclides is required in this method. Hou et al [136] reported a method for the separation of 36 Cl from different types of nuclear waste samples, such as graphite, concrete and metals.…”