Tantalum nuclides

To avoid interferences of isobaric atomic ions of different elements and polyatomic ions at the same nominal mass, off line separation of matrix elements or analyte separation can be applied and/or enrichment and hyphenated techniques such as HPLC- or CE-ICP-MS. Analytical procedures have been developed in the author s laboratory for the determination of spallation nuclides in an irradiated tantalum target using HPLC and CE coupled on line to ICP-MS after dissolution and separation of the tantalum matrix.12,17 The mass spectra of rare earth elements (REEs)... 

Table 9.40 Concentration of different spallation nuclides of the lanthanides ((j-g g 1) in an irradiated tantalum target.

Table 9.41 Nuclide abundances of gadolinium (%) produced via spallation reactions in an irradiated tantalum target via spallation reactions.

All parts in contact with solutions are made of inert materials. The chemical separation section is symmetrical and operated in an alternating mode between left and right. Simultaneously three operations are performed activity from the gas-jet (Stender et al. 1980) is collected on a polyethylene frit, previously collected activity is dissolved and transported to a column for chemical separation on one side, and the next colurtm is washed and conditioned on the other side. The products of interest are eluted from the columns onto preheated tantalum or titanium disks and the eluent is evaporated. After flaming and cooling, the disk is placed in the measuring position. Typical times from the end of irradiation to the start of measurements are 50 s, which makes it possible to study nuclides with a half-life down to 10—15 s. 

Becker,. S., Kerl,W., and Dietze, H.-J. (1999). Nuclide analysis of an irradiated tantalum target of a spallation neutron source using high performance ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Ana/. Chim.Acta 387(2), 145. 

---