Isotope ratio analysis of individual sub-micrometer plutonium particles with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
Information on plutonium isotope ratios in individual particles is of great importance for nuclear safeguards, nuclear forensics and so on. Although secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is successfully utilized for the analysis of individual uranium particles, the isobaric interference of americium-241 to plutonium-241 makes difficult to obtain accurate isotope ratios in individual plutonium particles. In the present work, an analytical technique by a combination of chemical separation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is developed and applied to isotope ratio analysis of individual sub-micrometer plutonium particles. The ICP-MS results for individual plutonium particles prepared from a standard reference material (NBL SRM-947) indicate that the use of a desolvation system for sample introduction improves the precision of isotope ratios. In addition, the accuracy of the (241)Pu/(239)Pu isotope ratio is much improved, owing to the chemical separation of plutonium and americium. In conclusion, the performance of the proposed ICP-MS technique is sufficient for the analysis of individual plutonium particles.
Research Group for Radiochemistry, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-4 Shirakata-Shirane, Tokai, Naka, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan. esaka.fumitaka@jaea.go.jp
Fumitaka
F
Esaka
Masaaki
M
Magara
Daisuke
D
Suzuki
Yutaka
Y
Miyamoto
Chi-Gyu
CG
Lee
Takaumi
T
Kimura
D000576:Americium / Q000737:chemistry; D000838:Anions; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange / Q000379:methods; D007554:Isotopes; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D055848:Nuclear Power Plants; D011005:Plutonium / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D000838:Anions; D007554:Isotopes; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011005:Plutonium; D000576:Americium