Separation of uranium and plutonium isotopes for measurement by multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy

Martinelli, R. E.; Hamilton, T F; Williams, Ross W.; Kehl, S R

doi:10.1007/s10967-009-0150-3

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Martinelli et al 49 implemented MC-ICP-MS for the sequential analysis of puried fractions containing U and Pu isotopes from environmental soil samples. As plasma instabilities are canceled out by detecting the isotopes of interest at the same time, multicollector (MC)-ICP-MS instruments are preferably applied over single collector ICP-MS instruments when it comes to highly precise isotope ratio measurements.…”

Section: Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass spectrometric analysis for nuclear safeguards

Boulyga

Konegger-Kappel

Stephan³

et al. 2015

J. Anal. At. Spectrom.

112

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Mass spectrometry is currently being implemented in a wide spectrum of research and industrial areas, such as materials science, cosmo-and geochemistry, biology and medicine, to name just a few. Research and development in nuclear safeguards is closely related to the general field of "Peace Research", representing a specific application area for analytical sciences in general and for mass spectrometry in particular. According to Albert Einstein "peace cannot be kept by force. It only can be achieved by understanding". Understanding implies a realistic estimation of potential challenges and threats, which is based on the ability to obtain timely, reliable and independent information. A particular task of international nuclear material safeguards is reducing threats that are posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons. An important part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system is the "analytical laboratory", with mass spectrometric techniques, such as thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) belonging to the most powerful methods for the analysis of nuclear material and environmental samples collected during inspections. Each of the currently applied techniques provides definite merits (e.g. precision, accuracy, timeeffectiveness, high sensitivity, spatial resolution, reduced molecular interference, etc.) for a specific safeguards related application. Thus, taking advantage of each technique helps the analyst to gain a larger quantity of safeguards-relevant information. Along with the analysis of element amounts and isotopic compositions of uranium and plutonium in nuclear material the challenging applications of mass spectrometry include isotopic analysis of micro-samples, age determination of nuclear material as well as identification and quantification of elemental and isotopic signatures of inspection samples in general.Analysis of inspection samples implies strict quality control procedures and it demands the production of suitable certified isotopic reference materials which are used as calibration standards or as quality control samples. This manuscript discusses merits and limitations of presently available mass spectrometric

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Section: Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass spectrometric analysis for nuclear safeguards

Boulyga

Konegger-Kappel

Stephan³

et al. 2015

J. Anal. At. Spectrom.

112

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“…Also in the oxide mass regions are even smaller peaks at 2 amu above the peak. The peaks at +2 amu are likely the ion species incorporating 18 O as in the photoion signals. The ratio of the corresponding peak counts (U 18 O/U 16 O) in the experimental data are all less than 0.01, but the tails from the more abundant peaks make it difficult to distinguish the contribution of the 18 O peaks accurately.…”

Section: Secondary Ionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The time-dependent function of laser amplitude will create a time-dependent fraction of atoms participating in the interaction, therefore the ensemble of atoms as a whole will not behave coherently 1 . The experiments considered in this work will have a time-dependent pulse described by a Gaussian function with a FWHM of [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] ns. This is long compared to the time required for excitation to occur and therefore the experimental results will be considered in the limit of incoherent interactions.…”

Section: Resonant Excitation Of Discrete Transitions (Bound-bound)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantifying Uranium Isotope Ratios Using Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry: The Influence of Laser Parameters on Relative Ionization Probability

Isselhardt

2011

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Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS) has been developed as a method to measure relative uranium isotope abundances. In this approach, RIMS is used as an elementselective ionization process to provide a distinction between uranium atoms and potential isobars without the aid of chemical purification and separation. We explore the laser parameters critical to the ionization process and their effects on the measured isotope ratio. Specifically, the use of broad bandwidth lasers with automated feedback control of wavelength was applied to the measurement of 235 U/ 238 U ratios to decrease laser-induced isotopic fractionation. By broadening the bandwidth of the first laser in a 3-color, 3-photon ionization process from a bandwidth of 1.8 GHz to about 10 GHz , the variation in sequential relative isotope abundance measurements decreased from >10% to less than 0.5%. This procedure was demonstrated for the direct interrogation of uranium oxide targets with essentially no sample preparation. A rate equation model for predicting the relative ionization probability has been developed to study the effect of variation in laser parameters on the measured isotope ratio. This work demonstrates that RIMS can be used for the robust measurement of uranium isotope ratios. Professor Stanley G. Prussin Dissertation Committee Chair iThis dissertation is dedicated to all those who have invested in me, especially my wife and son who have given the most.ii

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“…Recent advances in ICP-MS have made the determination of the two Pu isotopes in environmental samples more reliable and accessible with relatively simple sample handling [8,9]. Multicollector ICP-MS is a suitable technique for Pu isotope ratio analyses in low-level environmental samples due to its high sensitivity as well as its excellent precision and accuracy [10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%