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Determination of 239Pu in urine by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) using an automated offline sample preparation technique

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Abstract

Here we report a new procedure to determine 239Pu in urine using a custom-made automated pre-analytical processing system (single probe) with 242Pu as a tracer followed by analysis by SF-ICP-MS. An average 242Pu recovery rate of 88% was obtained with CF-ThU-1000 columns reused > 100 times. Analytical results agree with measurements obtained using the CDC manual method with a R2 of 0.9994. Results for Oak Ridge National Laboratory reference materials align with target values with a bias range of − 3.44 to 3.05%. The limit of detection for this method is 0.63 pg/L, which is comparable to previous manual methods.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Ms. Cynthia Ward who assisted in the proof-reading of the manuscript. Specifically, thank Dr. Derrick Quarles and Jude Sakowski from ESI for their technical support throughout this work.

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  1. Inorganic and Radiation Analytical Toxicology Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, Mail Stop S110-5, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA

    Ge Xiao & Robert L. Jones

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  1. Ge Xiao
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  2. Robert L. Jones
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Correspondence to Ge Xiao.

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Xiao, G., Jones, R.L. Determination of 239Pu in urine by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) using an automated offline sample preparation technique. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 328, 277–287 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07622-1

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