Age determination of highly enriched uranium: separation and analysis of 231Pa.
An analytical procedure has been developed for the age determination of highly enriched uranium samples exploiting the mother/daughter pair 235U/231Pa. Protactinium is separated from bulk uranium through highly selective sorption to silica gel and is subsequently quantified using alpha-spectrometry. The method has been validated using uranium standard reference materials of known ages. It affords decontamination factors exceeding 2.5 x 10(7), overall recoveries in the range of 80-85%, and a combined uncertainty below 5%.
Morgenstern
A
A
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements, Karlsruhe, Germany. morgenstern@itu.fzk.de
Apostolidis
C
C
Mayer
K
K
D006207:Half-Life; D011478:Protactinium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014501:Uranium / Q000737:chemistry*
D011478:Protactinium; D014501:Uranium