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Determination of uranium, plutonium and americium in soil and sediment by a sequential separation procedure using a single DGA column

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Abstract

A novel method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of uranium, plutonium and americium nuclides in soil and sediment samples up to 5 g. Samples are destroyed by fusion with sodium hydroxide. Pre-concentration procedure tailored to the extraction chromatography is based on co-precipitation of actinides and removal of silica, iron and calcium. For the sequential separation of actinides a single DGA resin® (containing N,N,N′,N′-tetra-n-octyldiglycol-amide) column is used. Separation of americium from lanthanides is inherently involved in the EC procedure. Alpha sources are prepared from the individual actinides strip solutions. High recoveries (above 75%) and sensitivities (about 0.1 Bq/kg) have been obtained to allow the determination of actinides of environmental levels. The whole procedure can be performed in 2 days.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Steffen Happel, TRISKEM International for valuable advices, Mihály Veres, PhD, ISOTOPTECH Rt. for ICP-QQQ-MS measurement possibilities and Patricia Szeredy for participating in the chemical work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RADANAL Ltd., Konkoly-Thege M. út 29-33, 1121, Budapest, Hungary

    Nóra Vajda, Judit Groska, Edit Bokori & Zsuzsa Molnár

  2. Centre for Energy Research, Konkoly-Thege M. út 29-33, 1121, Budapest, Hungary

    Márton Zagyvai

  3. ISOTOPTECH Rt., Piac u. 53, 4025, Debrecen, Hungary

    Mihály Braun

Authors
  1. Nóra Vajda
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  2. Márton Zagyvai
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  3. Judit Groska
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  4. Edit Bokori
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  5. Zsuzsa Molnár
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  6. Mihály Braun
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Correspondence to Nóra Vajda.

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Vajda, N., Zagyvai, M., Groska, J. et al. Determination of uranium, plutonium and americium in soil and sediment by a sequential separation procedure using a single DGA column. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 326, 695–710 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07337-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07337-9

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