title: Internal conversion in energy dispersive X-ray analysis of actinide-containing materials.
abstract: The use of X-ray elemental analysis tools like energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) is described in the context of the investigation of nuclear materials. These materials contain radioactive elements, particularly alpha-decaying actinides that affect the quantitative EDS measurement by producing interferences in the X-ray spectra. These interferences originating from X-ray emission are the result of internal conversion by the daughter atoms from the alpha-decaying actinides. The strong interferences affect primarily the L X-ray lines from the actinides (in the typical energy range used for EDS analysis) and would require the use of the M lines. However, it is typically at the energy of the actinide's M lines that the interferences are dominant. The artifacts produced in the X-ray analysis are described and illustrated by some typical examples of analysis of actinide-bearing material.
authors.affiliation: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements, 76125 Karlsruhe, Germany. thierry.wiss@ec.europa.eu
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiss
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thiele
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cremer
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ray