Plutonium (IV) Quantification in Technologically Relevant Media Using Potentiometric Sensor Array

Abstract

The quantification of plutonium in technological streams during spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing is an important practical task that has to be solved to ensure the safety of the process. Currently applied methods are tedious, time-consuming and can hardly be implemented in on-line mode. A fast and simple quantitative plutonium (IV) analysis using a potentiometric sensor array based on extracting agents is suggested in this study. The response of the set of specially designed PVC-plasticized membrane sensors can be related to plutonium content in solutions simulating real SNF-reprocessing media through multivariate regression modeling, providing 30% higher precision of plutonium quantification than optical spectroscopy.

On the Radiolytic Stability of Potentiometric Sensors with Plasticized Polymeric Membranes

“…The sensors for the study were chosen among those previously developed for quantification of lanthanides and actinides in SNF process streams [5,6]. Table 1 shows the chemical structures of the employed ligands.…”

“…Recently, a new application of multisensor systems was proposed related to a very challenging task of actinides and lanthanides quantification in technological solutions of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing [5][6][7]. The analytical chemistry of such media is not trivial at all due to the following reasons.…”

“…The necessity of safe process management leads to the search for the analytical methods that would be capable of quantifying the key SNF components directly in technological streams in on-line mode. Up to now there were only two suitable approaches suggested: optical spectrometry with chemometric data processing [9,10] and electrochemical multisensor systems [6,7]. While optical spectrometry with fiber probes indeed allows quite precise analysis of certain components in SNF solutions, it may suffer from light scattering effects observed in these solutions due to gas formation and the presence of colloid particles.…”

“…These issues lead to the development of potentiometric sensor arrays that would be capable of on-line analysis of target analytes. While the applicability of this approach was already demonstrated in both model mixtures [5,6] and real industrial samples [7], there are still some issues hindering immediate industrial implementation of the methodology. One of the most important problems relates to the stability of sensing properties of polymer plasticized membranes when exposed to continuous ionizing radiation that will be an unavoidable factor when dealing with real industrial application.…”

New Greener and Sustainable Methodology for Direct Sequestering and Analysis of Uranium Using a Maline Supramolecular Scaffold and Mechanistic Understanding through Speciation and Interaction Studies

“…48,49 Several studies were further devoted to modification of electrode surfaces for U analysis as an alternate choice but its preparation involves a complex procedure and is expensive, tedious, and time-consuming, which restricts its application in routine sample analysis. 50,51 Few studies 52−54 have reported the DESs as designer solvents for green analytical chemistry since these solvents are like liquid crystals in which the analyte molecules are fixed in the crystal. Hence, detection enhancement is possible through a phenomenon similar to the micellar-enhanced spectrometry detection generated by surfactants.…”