Determining cerium in plutonium by anion exchange and x-ray fluorescence

Technical Report · Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5024578· OSTI ID:5024578

Martell, C J; Hansel, J M

This report describes a procedure for determining cerium in plutonium using an anion-exchange separation and x-ray fluorescence. We add lanthanum to the plutonium solution as an internal standard, oxidize the plutonium to Pu/sup /plus/4/, and pass the solution through an anion-exchange column with 8M HCl. The Pu/sup /plus/4/ sorbs to the resin, and the cerium and lanthanum pass through the column completely. We evaporate the solution containing the cerium and the lanthanum to 0.5 mL for pipetting onto a resin paper disc. The Pu/sup /plus/4/ is eluted off the column using 0.1M HCl. We then measure the K/sub ..cap alpha../ x-ray line for both cerium and lanthanum. The ratio of cerium to lanthanum for the sample is then compared with those from the standards. This method has a precision of 2.8% relative standard deviation for cerium over a concentration range of 0.1 to 5% cerium. 2 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5024578
• Report Number(s): LA-11298; ON: DE88010490
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
CERIUM
ION EXCHANGE
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS
PLUTONIUM
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CALIBRATION STANDARDS
LANTHANUM
ACTINIDES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ELEMENTS
METALS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
RARE EARTHS
STANDARDS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
X-RAY EMISSION ANALYSIS
400102* - Chemical & Spectral Procedures