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Age determination of plutonium using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

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Abstract

The age of plutonium is defined as the time since the last separation of the plutonium isotopes from their daughter nuclides. In this paper, a method for age determination based on analysis of 241Pu/241Am and 240Pu/236Pu using ICP-SFMS is described. Separation of Pu and Am was performed using a solid phase extraction procedure including UTEVA, TEVA, TRU and Ln-resins. The procedure provided separation factors adequate for this purpose. Age determinations were performed on two plutonium reference solutions from the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, IRMM081 (239Pu) and IRMM083 (240Pu), on sediment from the Marshall Islands (reference material IAEA367) and on soil from the Trinity test site (Trinitite). The measured ages based on the 241Am/241Pu ratio corresponded well with the time since the last parent-daughter separations of all the materials. The ages derived from the 236U/240Pu ratio were in agreement for the IRMM materials, but for IAEA367 the determination of 236U was interfered by tailing from 238U, and for Trinitite the determined age was biased due to formation of 236U in the detonation of the “Gadget”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Division of NBC Analysis, SE-901 82, Umeå, Sweden

    U. Nygren, H. Ramebäck & C. Nilsson

  2. Department of Chemistry, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87, Luleå, Sweden

    U. Nygren

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  2. H. Ramebäck
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  3. C. Nilsson
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Nygren, U., Ramebäck, H. & Nilsson, C. Age determination of plutonium using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 272, 45–51 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-006-6780-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-006-6780-9

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