Direct analysis of cotton swipes for plutonium isotope determination by microextraction-ICP-MS

Abstract

This study demonstrates a method for determining the isotopic composition of low-level (sub-pg) plutonium (Pu) directly from a cotton swipe. Environmental sample (ES) swipes are routinely employed as a tool...

Analysis of solid uranium particulates on cotton swipes with an automated microextraction-ICP-MS system

“…30 A different direct analysis technique, microextraction-ICP-MS, has been explored for the measurement of uranium and plutonium isotope ratios on simulated ES swipes. [33][34][35] Marcus et al analyzed U, deposited as solution residues, on swipes with a microextraction system coupled to a liquid samplingatmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) microplasma 36 ionization source and an orbitrap mass spectrometer. 35 Regarding the microextraction-ICP-MS methodology, major and minor U isotope ratios of several certied reference materials were extracted from a cotton swipe containing deposited U solution, and preliminary detection limits were determined to be ∼50 pg for 238 U.…”

“…37 The uncertainty of the quadrupole ICP-MS isotope ratio measurements was also evaluated with larger sample sizes compared to previous work. 33,34,37…”

“…34 Pu isotope ratios were determined on a cotton swipe by microextraction integrated with a sector field ICP-MS, and with detection limits for Pu in the sub-pg range. 33 Microextraction was also proven to successfully determine uranium isotope ratios for solid particulates of uranyl nitrate and uranyl fluoride placed on the surface of a cotton swipe. 37 The external precision (EP) of these measurements ranged from 1% for the 235 U/ 238 U ratio to 10% for the 234 U/ 238 U ratio.…”

Atomic spectrometry update – a review of advances in environmental analysis

“…Innovations in sample preparation are always welcome. The coupling of a microextraction assembly directly to an ICP-MS instrument enabled the direct isotopic analysis of either Pu 28 or U 29 particles collected on cotton swabs for rapid nuclear-safeguarding purposes. A flow of 2% (v/v) HNO 3 solvent rinse flushed deposited actinide material from a swab directly into the ICP-MS instrument for analysis.…”

Direct, multielement determinations from cotton swipes via plate express microextraction coupled to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (μEx-ICP-MS)

“…A collaboration between this laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) introduced a simple method of extracting solution residues and particulates from standard cotton swipes for the determination of uranium and plutonium isotope ratios. 32 The approach was based on the use of the Advion (Ithaca, NY) plate express as a means of solutionmicroextraction from a cloth substrate and transporting the eluate rst to a liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) microplasma ionization source, 32 and more recently to ICP sources, [33][34][35][36] for MS detection. The device was originally designed as a means of extracting organic species from thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates, 37,38 for their transport to electrospray ionization (ESI) sources for qualitative analysis.…”