Determination of Pu isotopes in sediment and soil samples by SF-ICP-MS: an improved anion-exchange procedure for Pu separation

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry volume 314, pages2417–2423(2017)Cite this article

Abstract

An analytical method was established for the determination of plutonium isotopes in sediment and soil samples based on sector field ICP-MS and an improved anion-exchange procedure for Pu separation. A high U decontamination factor of 4 × 106 was obtained and the chemical yield of Pu was improved to be about 65%. The developed method was validated by the analysis of four soil and sediment reference materials, the analytical results agreed well with the certified and information values. We further applied this method to determine Pu isotopes in actual sediment and soil core samples for Pu source identification.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11605172), the Science Challenging Project (No. JCKY2016212A504), the JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP17k00537, and partly supported by the Grant of Fukushima Prefecture related to Research and Development in Radiological Sciences. We would like to thank the scientific parties of KH 11-07 cruise for their help in sediment sampling.

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Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China

    Wenting Bu

  2. Fukushima Project Headquarters, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Chiba, 263-8555, Japan

    Jian Zheng & Tatsuo Aono

  3. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Qiuju Guo

  4. School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, China

    Detao Xiao

Authors
  1. Wenting Bu
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  2. Jian Zheng
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  3. Qiuju Guo
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  4. Detao Xiao
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  5. Tatsuo Aono
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Correspondence to Wenting Bu or Jian Zheng.

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Bu, W., Zheng, J., Guo, Q. et al. Determination of Pu isotopes in sediment and soil samples by SF-ICP-MS: an improved anion-exchange procedure for Pu separation. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 314, 2417–2423 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5618-y

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Keywords

  • Plutonium
  • SF-ICP-MS
  • Anion-exchange chromatography
  • Soil and sediment