1
|
Huang Z, Hou X, Zhao X. Rapid and Simultaneous Determination of 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Pu in Samples with High-Level Uranium Using ICP-MS/MS and Extraction Chromatography. Anal Chem 2023; 95:12931-12939. [PMID: 37590167 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c02526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
As the most important plutonium isotopes, 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Pu are normally measured by two to three techniques, which are tedious, time-consuming, and not suitable for rapid analysis in emergency situations. Recently, ICP-MS has become a competitive technique for the rapid measurement of 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Pu. However, ICP-MS is difficult to measure 238Pu due to the serious isobaric interference of 238U. This work reports a rapid analytical method to solve this problem for the simultaneous determination of 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Pu using triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) combined with chemical separation. Chemical separation achieved a high decontamination factor of 2.12 × 109 for the most critical interfering element, uranium, by using two sequential TK200 columns. The interferences of 238U1H+ and 238U+ were effectively eliminated by using 12 mL/min He-6 mL/min NH3 as the reaction gases in the octupole collision/reaction cell in ICP-MS/MS. Combined with chemical separation, the overall elimination efficiency of 238U1H+ reached 3.6 × 1017, which is 105 times better than the reported method. With the high 238U+ elimination efficiency of 1.12 × 104 in the ICP-MS/MS measurement, the overall removal efficiency of 238U+ reached 1013, guaranteeing accurate determination of femtogram-level 238Pu as well as 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Pu in the samples containing milligram-level 238U. The detection time is reduced to minutes, well fulfilling the requirement of rapid analysis. This method is validated by analyzing the standard reference material and the spiked samples.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhao Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an 710061, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xiaolin Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an 710061, China
- Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DTU Risø Campus, Roskilde 4000, Denmark
- Open Studio for Oceanic-Continental Climate and Environment Changes, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266061, China
| | - Xue Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an 710061, China
- Open Studio for Oceanic-Continental Climate and Environment Changes, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266061, China
- Xi'an Institute for Innovative Earth Environment Research, Xi'an 710061, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
An improved rapid method for the determination of actinides in water. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-022-08389-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
AbstractA new rapid method has been developed for the determination of Th, Pu, Np, U, Am and Cm isotopes in water samples of about 1 L. Actinides are pre-concentrated by co-precipitation with Ca phosphate, sequentially separated on stacked TEVA and TK221 cartridges and measured by alpha spectrometry. The TK221 extraction chromatographic resin contains i.e. CMPO and DGA extractants. It has been characterized by measuring the weight distribution ratios (Dw) of actinides which are higher than 1000 for all actinides in 3 M HNO3. The method has been optimized, applied for the analysis of tap and seawater samples and validated by participating in an IAEA proficiency test. Chemical recoveries for all actinides are better than 50%. The method can be performed within one day.
Collapse
|
3
|
A simple procedure for highly efficient purification of ultratrace Pu from Pb by extraction chromatography. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-022-08343-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
|
4
|
A simple acid digestion using HCl–HNO3−NH4HF2 for rapid SF-ICP-MS determination of 237Np and Pu isotopes in steel and concrete samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-021-07825-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
|
5
|
Wang W, Evans RD, Evans HE. A rapid, automated system for the separation, preconcentration and measurement of 90Sr, and U, Am and Pu isotopes. Talanta 2021; 233:122507. [PMID: 34215122 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2021.122507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
An online separation and preconcentration method, using an automated flow injection setup and solid phase extraction followed by ICP-MS/MS, was developed for the analysis of 90Sr, and U, Am and Pu isotopes in various liquid sample matrices. The radionuclide analytes were separated from interferences and complex matrices using DGA-branched resin and Sr resin, then specific gases were used in the reaction/collision cell in the ICP-MS/MS to measure the different analytes. The system requires smaller sample volumes (10 mL), less sample preparation and shorter processing time (46 min per sample) compared to traditional radiometric and other MS techniques. Based on a 10 mL sample, the limits of detection were 1.48 pg L-1 (8257 mBq L-1) for 90Sr, 1.75 pg L-1 (0.40 mBq L-1) for 234U, 0.65 pg L-1 (77.65 mBq L-1) for 241Am, and 0.56 pg L-1 (1.25 mBq L-1) for 239Pu when all target analytes were measured in one analysis. The analytical figures of merit were evaluated for a range of sample matrices including lake water, seawater and urine and were comparable to those reported in the literature. This online system thus provides a novel, fully automated analytical tool with faster analysis time, smaller sample requirements, minimum sample preparation, low detection limits and the flexibility to handle single and multiple measurements of various radionuclides.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wang
- Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600, West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9L 0G2, Canada.
| | - R Douglas Evans
- School of the Environment and Water Quality Center, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9L 0G2, Canada
| | - Hayla E Evans
- School of the Environment and Water Quality Center, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9L 0G2, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Wang Z, Huang Z, Xie Y, Tan Z. Method for determination of Pu isotopes in soil and sediment samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after simple chemical separation using TK200 resin. Anal Chim Acta 2019; 1090:151-158. [PMID: 31655640 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2019.08.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2019] [Revised: 08/20/2019] [Accepted: 08/27/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Plutonium has been extensively studied in the environment, for the purpose of radiological assessment, environmental behavior study and nuclear emergency response. To determine Pu isotopes in environmental soil and sediment, a novel analytical method was established in this study using a new type of extraction resin, TK200 resin. Firstly an investigation was performed to study the extraction behaviors of Pu, U, Th, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi and Hf on TK200 resin. On the basis of the results, a new chromatographic procedure was then proposed to separate Pu from the elements that interfere the accurate determination of Pu isotopes by mass spectrometry. Owing to the excellent separation efficiency between Pu and interfering elements (IEs) of the developed procedure, high decontamination factors (DFs) were obtained for IEs, e.g. the DF(U) (>7.5 × 107) was the highest reported value. The separation procedure was finally combined with HNO3 leaching, CaF2/LaF3 coprecipitation and sector field-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICPMS) measurement to establish a complete method. The established method was evaluated by analyzing four standard reference materials (soil, sediment), and the results showed that both 239+240Pu activity and 240Pu/239Pu isotopic ratio were accurately determined, with stable and high Pu chemical recoveries (81-91%). The whole analytical method only took about 15 h, and the limits of detection were calculated to be 0.13-0.24 fg g-1 for Pu isotopes (for 2 g soil or sediment), guaranteeing the rapid determination of ultra-trace level Pu in soil and sediment samples.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhongtang Wang
- The Laboratory of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Decommission Technology, Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China.
| | - Zhaoya Huang
- The Laboratory of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Decommission Technology, Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China
| | - Yun Xie
- The Laboratory of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Decommission Technology, Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China
| | - Zhaoyi Tan
- The Laboratory of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Decommission Technology, Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China
| |
Collapse
|