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Round-robins in the area of uranium and plutonium bulk analysis of environmental samples

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Abstract

In the framework of a collaboration between laboratories involved in bulk U and Pu analysis of environmental samples (DIF centre of the French Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, US National Laboratories of New Brunswick, Lawrence Livermore, Pacific Northwest, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos), two round-robins were organised, each one consisting of the complete analysis (chemical preparation and isotope measurement) of three Quality Control samples. The samples were 10 × 10 cm cotton tissues (“swipe samples”) containing low amounts of U (from ~20 to ~150 ng) and Pu (from ~0.15 to ~10 pg). Despite using different spikes, different methods of sample preparation and different analytical instrumentation, the results for U and Pu contents and isotopic compositions reported by all laboratories are globally in good agreement. All laboratories are able to measure sub-pg amounts of U and Pu isotopes with acceptable accuracy and reproducibility, even if limited discrepancies are observed affecting one or other measurement and/or laboratory. General and laboratory specific recommendations were discussed and adopted to continue to improve the accuracy and precision of the measurements.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to all the people who make this collaboration possible and to the people who actively participate in the collaboration, through meetings, administrative matters, and, of course through technical work in the facilities. Special thanks to Ross Williams and his colleagues from LLNL, who assumed the difficult task to prepare and dispatch the QC samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Fabien Pointurier

  2. DOE/LLNL, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA, 94551, USA

    Ross W. Williams

  3. DOE/LANL, MS-J514, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Stephen P. LaMont & Robert E. Steiner

  4. DOE/ORNL, MS-6050, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831-6050, USA

    Debbie A. Bostick

  5. DOE/PNNL, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA, 99354, USA

    Khris B. Olsen & Ned A. Wogman

Authors
  1. Fabien Pointurier
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  2. Ross W. Williams
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  3. Stephen P. LaMont
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  4. Robert E. Steiner
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  5. Debbie A. Bostick
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  6. Khris B. Olsen
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  7. Ned A. Wogman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabien Pointurier.

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Pointurier, F., Williams, R.W., LaMont, S.P. et al. Round-robins in the area of uranium and plutonium bulk analysis of environmental samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 296, 599–608 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-1985-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-1985-6

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