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A simple and fast method for measurement of elemental impurities in powdered U-oxide materials by means of ns-UV laser ablation coupled to a sector-field ICP-MS

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Abstract

The determination of elemental impurities in uranium ore concentrates (UOCs) is of great importance in the fields of nuclear forensics and nuclear safeguards and more generally for the nuclear industry. To avoid the use of chemical reagents, prevent waste generation, and reduce the duration of the analysis, a simple method based on sample preparation involving the conversion of UOCs into glass beads by alkaline fusion followed by direct measurement by laser ablation—sector-field ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) is proposed. External calibration was performed with a mix of UOCs and geological standard reference materials. Accurate results were obtained for most of the 48 elements of interest in six UOC materials. The lowest detection limits are in the ng g−1 range. With this method, concentrations of a wide range of elements can be determined within 24 h.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed in the context of a PhD thesis through financial support provided by Orano Mining and the CEA/DAM. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Mike Maury and Magali Celier (Orano Mining, CIME) for the training on the Katanax X-Fluxer X-600 apparatus and for their welcome during the preparation of the glass beads. Finally, authors express their gratitude to the two anonymous reviewers for their time and their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEA, DAM, DIF, 91297, Arpajon, France

    Michaël Susset, Anne-Claire Humbert & Fabien Pointurier

  2. Orano Mining, CIME, 2 Route de Lavaugrasse, 87250, Bessines-Sur-Gartempe, France

    Valérie Granger

  3. E2S UPPA, CNRS, IPREM, Universite de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Avenue de l’Université, 64012, PAU Cedex, France

    Christophe Pécheyran

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  1. Michaël Susset
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Contributions

MS: writing—original draft, data curation, formal analysis, software, investigation, methodology. A-CH: methodology, writing review and editing, supervision. VG: writing review, supervision. FP: methodology, writing review and editing, supervision. CP: methodology, writing review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Michaël Susset.

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Susset, M., Humbert, AC., Granger, V. et al. A simple and fast method for measurement of elemental impurities in powdered U-oxide materials by means of ns-UV laser ablation coupled to a sector-field ICP-MS. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 333, 877–888 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-09322-4

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