Determination of Long-lived Radionuclides

Mass spectrometric techniques play a dominant role for the determination of transuranium elements in bulk samples as well as in microparticles. The radioactive element most frequently investigated by inorganic mass spectrometry is uranium. The determination of the concentrations and the precise isotopic analysis of naturally occurring radioactive elements (e.g. Th and the decay nuclides) by inorganic mass spectrometry as terrestrial 

Am with a half-life of ti = 432 a has to be determined in waste and environmental samples by mass spectrometry. The determination of Pu (ti 88 a) at the trace level is difficult in the presence of uranium due to isobaric interference with in mass spectra measured by ICP- 

MS or LA-ICP-MS. Therefore the application of a sensitive and selective technique such as RIMS or AMS is advantageous. The determination of Pu for plutonium isotope analysis in irradiated 

Besides the analysis of nuclear fuel and of radioactive waste materials, the determination of contamination and enrichment of selected radioactive nuclides, e.g., which is one of the most important environmental indicators of nuclear accidents, Se, Tc, Np, Pu, °Pu and Am at ultratrace concentration levels, is useful for environmental monitoring of fallout from nuclear weapons testing, nuclear power plants or nuclear accidents. . Selected application fields for the determination of natural and artificial long-lived radionuclides (LLR) and radionuclides investigated by mass spectrometric techniques are summarized in Tables 9.36 and 9.37, respectively. 

Environmental monitoring Study of natural radioactivity - in sea, river and rain water, plants, animals, soils. U and Th (natural)  

The characterization of radioactive waste is especially required with respect to the long-lived transuranium elements 237Np (tu = 2.14 x 106a) 239Pu (tu = 2.41 x 104a), 240Pu (tu = 6.5 x 

Solid-state research Material control of natural radioactivity in high purity metals, semiconductors, ceramics U and Th impurities  

Health control Control of exposed and contaminated persons working in nuclear power plants or other nuclear facilities (nuclear laboratories in research and medicine) and of persons living in contaminated areas - in urine, blood, faeces, - in tissue, hair, nails e.g., Th, U, Pu, 90Sr, Am, Np, Cm  

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Becker, J. S., State of the art in determination of long-lived radionuclides by Plasma Mass Spectrochemistry (invited Plenary lecture), in Book of Abstracts of Second Asia-Pacific Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Bangkok, Thailand. R. M. Barnes (ed.), ICP Information Newsletters, 162 (2006). Becker, J. S., Spectrochim. Acta, 58B, 1757 (2003). 

Conventional radiochemical methods for the determination of long-lived radionuclides at low concentration levels require a careful chemical separation of the analyte, e.g., by liquid-liquid, solid phase extraction or ion chromatography. The chemical separation of the interferents from the long-lived radionuclide at the ultratrace level and its enrichment in order to achieve low detection limits is often very time consuming. Inorganic mass spectrometry is especially advantageous in comparison to radioanalytical techniques for the characterization of radionuclides with long half-lives (> 104 a) at the ultratrace level and very low radioactive environmental or waste samples. 

Table 9.38 Detection limits of mass spectrometry for determination of long-lived radionuclides.2...

Henry et al.33 reported that improvements in quadrupole ICP-MS resulted in ag mass detection capability. Consequently the analysis of radionuclides with shorter half-lives is also possible. In Table 9.38 the detection limits of several mass spectrometric techniques for the determination of long-lived radionuclides are compared. 

Methodological Developments and Applications of ICP-MS for Determination of Long-lived Radionuclides Including Trace/Matrix Separation... 

Long-lived radionuclides occur at extremely low concentrations, especially in environmental samples, therefore several authors have proposed matrix separation and enrichment of the analytes before analysis.21,24,26,3 39 Radiochemical methods often require very careful and time consuming separation and enrichment processes and measurement procedures of a-, (3- and -emitting radioactive species at the trace and ultratrace level using conventional radioanalytical techniques 40-43 Trace/matrix separation, which is performed offline or online in order to avoid possible isobaric interferences, matrix effects and to reduce the detection limits for the determination of long-lived radionuclides, is also advantageous before ICP-MS measurements as the most widely applied mass spectrometric technique. 

Different applications of mass spectrometry in the trace and ultratrace determination of long lived radionuclides in nuclear fuel, solid radioactive waste samples, radioactive solutions and... 

Table 9.43 Determination of long-lived radionuclides in biological, environmental and medical samples and food.

As already mentioned, another field where ICP-MS has found advantageous use is the determination of long-lived radionuclides, which are often difficult and time-consuming to measure with radioanalytical techniques. The determination of... 

Whereas in the past the determination of long-lived radionuclides was dominated by conventional radioanalytical techniques such as a spectrometry, for a few years now ICP-MS has been increasingly used for isotope analysis. Of special interest is the isotope analysis of natural radionuclides ( U, and " U) and especially of artificial radionuclides (236u, 2 °Pu, Am, I, °Sr and others) in environmental samples for evidence of... 

Trace, Ultratrace and Surface Analysis 415 9.9 Determination of Long-lived Radionuclides... 

Becker, J.K., Dietze, H.-J. Determination of long-lived radionuclides by double focusing sector field ICP mass spectrometry. Adv. Mass Spectrom. 14, 681-689 (1998)... 

Gastel, M., Becker, J. S., Kuppers, G., and Dietze, H. J. 1997. Determination of long-lived radionuclides in concrete matrix by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Spectrochim Acta B 52(14), 2051-2059. 

Varga Z, Stefanka Z, Suranyi G, Vajda N (2006) Rapid methods for the determination of long-lived radionuclides in environmental samples by ICP-SFMS and radioanalytical techniques. Czech J Phys 56( upplD) D 177-D182... 

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