Evaluation of Chelation Preconcentration for the Determination of Actinide Elements by Flow Injection ICP-MS

Abstract

A chelation column preconcentration method has been developed for the determination of uranium and thorium in waters by ICP-MS. Detection limits of 24 pg and 60 pg respectively were obtained, but these were blank limited. Uranium and Thorium were determined in certified reference materials. Results for uranium were 121 ± 21 and 15 ± 3 ng g-1 in NIST 1566a and NIST 1575 compared with certified values of 132 ± 12 and 20 ± 4 ng g-1 respectively. Results for thorium were 29 ± 8 and 28 ± 5 ng g-1 in NIST 1566a and NIST 1575 compared with indicative and certified values of 40 and 37 ± 3 ng g-1 respectively. The on-line separation of actinide radionuclides was achieved by selective elution of U, Th, Pu, Np, and Am.

Mass Spectrometry in Environmental Sciences

“…Although liquid scintillation is still widely used for measuring radionuclides in environmental samples, mass spectrometry techniques are also commonly used. Quadrupole-based ICP-MS, double-focusing ICP-MS, electrothermal ICP-MS, and thermal ionization-MS methods have been used to measure radionuclides in environmental samples. − Detection limits for one of these methods (ICP with quadrupole MS) was reported to be 0.012−0.11 ng/L for 226 Ra, 230 Th, 237 Np, 238 U, 239 Pu and 241 Am . Becker and Dietze reviewed the performance of double-focusing sector field ICP-MS for determining long-lived radionuclides .…”