title: Rapid isolation of plutonium in environmental solid samples using sequential injection anion exchange chromatography followed by detection with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
abstract: This paper reports an automated analytical method for rapid determination of plutonium isotopes ((239)Pu and (240)Pu) in environmental solid extracts. Anion exchange chromatographic columns were incorporated in a sequential injection (SI) system to undertake the automated separation of plutonium from matrix and interfering elements. The analytical results most distinctly demonstrated that the crosslinkage of the anion exchanger is a key parameter controlling the separation efficiency. AG 1-×4 type resin was selected as the most suitable sorbent material for analyte separation. Investigation of column size effect upon the separation efficiency revealed that small-sized (2 mL) columns sufficed to handle up to 50 g of environmental soil samples. Under the optimum conditions, chemical yields of plutonium exceeded 90% and the decontamination factors for uranium, thorium and lead ranged from 10(3) to 10(4). The determination of plutonium isotopes in three standard/certified reference materials (IAEA-375 soil, IAEA-135 sediment and NIST-4359 seaweed) and two reference samples (Irish Sea sediment and Danish soil) revealed a good agreement with reference/certified values. The SI column-separation method is straightforward and less labor intensive as compared with batch-wise anion exchange chromatographic procedures. Besides, the automated method features low consumption of ion-exchanger and reagents for column washing and elution, with the consequent decrease in the generation of acidic waste, thus bearing green chemical credentials.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Research Division, Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark. jixin.qiao@risoe.dk
authors.forename: Jixin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miró