Abstract
A method has recently been developed at AWE for the pre-concentration, recovery, separation and measurement of actinides using Eichrom’s Actinide™ Resin. The method was specifically developed to enable successful isotopic analysis of uranium and plutonium at trace environmental levels using isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry. This paper summarises the development of the method, associated mass spectrometry results and the challenges which were overcome in recovering and purifying uranium and plutonium spikes (233U and 239Pu) during method development. Actinide™ Resin is known to be very good at selectively pre-concentrating actinides from slightly acidic and neutral solutions making this method attractive for measuring uranium and plutonium isotopic ratios in environmental samples.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank P Thompson and A Davies for their technical advice whilst developing this method. Also the authors are grateful to P Scivier for supporting the radiometric analysis and A Fairhead and D Mitchell for the extensive mass spectrometry support throughout the method development.
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King, A.R., Knight, D. & Fairhead, A. Analysis of uranium and plutonium following adsorption on actinide resin. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 304, 163–169 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3759-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3759-9