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Rapid method for accurate determination of actinides (U, Th, Pu and Am) in water samples for emergency response

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Abstract

To rapidly assess the contamination of actinides in emergency water, a method was developed to simultaneously analyze U, Th, Pu and Am. The method consists of two steps: extraction chromatographic separation using UTEVA and DGA resins and isotopic determination of actinides by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The whole analytical procedure takes only 8 h and high chemical recoveries of actinides were obtained. The cross spectral interferences between actinides in ICPMS measurement were sufficiently removed. The accuracy was validated by analyzing IAEA-443 seawater sample. The low limits of detection of actinides allow this method to distinguish low level contamination.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Science Challenge Project, China (JCKY2016212A504) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21607139).

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Zhongtang Wang, Jinxian Lin, Wei Wen, Guiping Dan & Zhaoyi Tan

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

    Sixuan Li & Qiuju Guo

  3. Radiation Monitoring Technical Center of Ministry of Environmental Protection, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Wenna Huang

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  1. Zhongtang Wang
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  2. Jinxian Lin
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  3. Sixuan Li
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  4. Qiuju Guo
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  6. Wei Wen
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  7. Guiping Dan
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  8. Zhaoyi Tan
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Correspondence to Zhongtang Wang.

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Wang, Z., Lin, J., Li, S. et al. Rapid method for accurate determination of actinides (U, Th, Pu and Am) in water samples for emergency response. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 315, 103–110 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5640-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5640-0

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