Abstract
The IRMM-2019-2029 series of uranium nitrate solutions was certified for the isotopic composition. The solutions were originally prepared for the certification of the IRMM-019-029 series of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) materials in 2014, for which certification measurements were performed by thermal ionization mass spectrometry after conversion of UF6 into uranyl nitrate solutions. Analyses were performed using the modified total evaporation method and for some materials with low 236U abundances, the n(235U)/n(238U) ratio was measured using a n(233U)/n(236U) double spike. The integrity of the certified values after dilution and ampouling of the original solutions was checked through process control measurements.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ISO 17034:2016 (2016) General requirements for the competence of reference materials producers. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva
ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 (2008) Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM, 1995). International Organization for Standardization, Geneva
ISO Guide 35 (2006) Reference materials—general and statistical principles for certification. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva
Mialle S, Richter S, Truyens J, Hennessy C, Jacobsson U, Aregbe Y (2014) Certification of the uranium hexafluoride (UF6) isotopic composition: the IRMM-019 to IRMM-029 series, Certification report JRC91461
Mialle S, Richter S, Hennessy C, Truyens J, Jacobsson U, Aregbe Y (2015) Certification of uranium hexafluoride reference materials for isotopic composition. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 305(1):255–266
International Target Values 2010 for Measurement Uncertainties in Safeguarding Nuclear Materials, IAEA-STR-368, Vienna, Austria, November (2010)
Richter S, Goldberg SA (2003) Improved techniques for high accuracy isotope ratio measurements of nuclear materials using thermal ionization mass spectrometry. Int J Mass Spectrom 229:181–197
Richter S, Kühn H, Aregbe Y, Hedberg M, Horta-Domenech J, Mayer K, Zuleger E, Bürger S, Boulyga S, Köpf A, Poths J, Mathew K (2011) Improvements for routine uranium isotope ratio measurements using the modified total evaporation method. J Anal At Spectrom 26:550–564
ASTM Standard Document C1832. Available through through the ASTM website: https://www.astm.org/Standards/C1832.htm
Richter S, Alonso A, Eykens R, Jacobsson U, Kühn H, Verbruggen A, Aregbe Y, Wellum R, Keegan E (2008) The isotopic composition of natural uranium samples—measurements using the new n(233U)/n(236U) double spike IRMM-3636. Int J Mass Spectrom 269:145–148
Richter S, Eykens R, Kühn H, Aregbe Y, Verbruggen A, Weyer S (2010) New average values for the n(238U)/n(235U) isotope ratios of natural uranium standards. Int J Mass Spectrom 295:94–97
ASTM Standard Document C1871a. Available through the ASTM website: https://www.astm.org/Standards/C1871.htm
Richter S, Hiess J, Jacobsson U (2016) Validation of Cristallini sampling method for UF6 by high precision double-spike measurements, collaboration between JRC-G.2, Team METRO and SGAS/IAEA, JRC103668. http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC103668/jrc103668_jrc%20technical%20report%20-%20online%20-%20cristallini%20validation%20project%20ver02.pdf
Richter S, Alonso A, Aregbe Y, Eykens R, Jacobsson U, Kehoe F, Kühn H, Verbruggen A, Wellum R (2010) Certification of a new series of gravimetrically prepared synthetic reference materials for n(236U)/n(238U) isotope ratio measurements. In: Proceedings of the 11th international conference on accelerator mass spectrometry, Rome, Italy, Sept. 2008, Nuclear Instruments and Methods B 268:956–959
Mathew K, Singleton GL, Essex RM, Hasozbek A, Orlowicz G, Soriano M (2013) Characterization of uranium isotopic abundances in depleted uranium metal assay standard 115. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 296:435–440
Mathew K, Singleton GL, Essex RM, Hasozbek A, Orlowicz G, Soriano M (2014) Uranium isotope-amount ratios in certified reference material 116-A—uranium (enriched) metal assay and isotopic standard. Int J Mass Spectrom 369:48–58
Richter S, Jacobsson U, Hennessy C, Mialle S, Aregbe Y (2014) Collaboration on certified reference material development and safeguards measurement quality assurance, Technical Report JRC93182
Richter S, Truyens J, Jacobsson U, Hennessy C, Aregbe Y (2015) Collaboration on quality assurance for safeguards measurements, Technical Report JRC97242
Mathew K, Mason P, Voeks A, Narayanan U (2012) Uranium isotope abundance ratios in natural uranium metal certified reference material 112-A. Int J Mass Spectrom 315:8–14
Cheng H, Edwards RL, Chuan-Chou S, Polyak VJ, Asmerom Y, Woodhead J, Hellstrome J, Wang Y, Kong X, Spötl C, Wang X, Alexander EC Jr (2013) Improvements in 230Th dating, 230Th and 234U half-life values, and U–Th isotopic measurements by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Earth Planet Sci Lett 371–372:82–91
Richter S, Alonso A, Aregbe Y, Eykens R, Kehoe F, Kühn H, Kivel N, Verbruggen A, Wellum R, Taylor PDP (2009) A new series of uranium isotope reference materials for investigating the linearity of secondary electron multipliers in isotope mass spectrometry. Int J Mass Spectrom 281:115–125
Wang M, Audi G, Kondev FG, Huang WJ, Naimi S, Xu X (2017) The AME 2016 atomic mass evaluation, part (II) (tables, graphs and references). Chin Phys C 41(3):030003
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the experts of the Certification Advisory Panel (CAP), Steven Balsley and Sergei Boulyga (International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Vienna, Austria), and Marielle Crozet (“Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives” (CEA)/“Commission d’ETablissement des Méthodes d’Analyses” (CETAMA)) for their constructive comments on the certification project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Richter, S., Venchiarutti, C., Hennessy, C. et al. Preparation and certification of the uranium nitrate solution reference materials series IRMM-2019 to IRMM-2029 for the isotopic composition. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 318, 1359–1368 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6166-9
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6166-9