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Title: Collaborative Study for Certification of Trace Elements in Uranium Ore Concentrate CRMs UCLO-1, UCHI-1, and UPER-1

Journal Article · · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry
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  1. National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada)
  2. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA), Buenos Aires (Argentina)
  3. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, ON (Canada)
  4. Queen's Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada)
  5. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  6. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  7. Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Magurele (Romania)
  8. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Ottawa, ON (Canada)
  9. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia)
  10. Integrated Support Center for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Nuclear Security (Japan)
  11. Radiation Protection Bureau (Canada)
  12. European Commission (Germany). Joint Research Centre (JRC)
  13. Saskatchewan Research Council (Canada)
  14. Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Magurele (Romania); Univ. of Bucharest, Magurele (Romania)
  15. Centre for Energy Research (Hungary)
  16. CBRN Defence and Security (Sweden)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Trace impurity patterns are important nuclear forensic signatures in uranium ore concentrates (UOCs) and Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) are used to validate the analysis methods employed by end users. Herein, we discuss the certification campaign for three new UOC CRMs from the National Research Council Canada: UCLO-1 (https://doi.org/10.4224/crm.2020.uclo-1), UCHI-1 (https://doi.org/10.4224/crm.2020.uchi-1), and UPER-1 (https://doi.org/10.4224/crm.2020.uper-1). This study involved 15 laboratories from 10 countries, using sector-field and (triple) quadrupole inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry to analyze 64 trace element impurities. We discuss the importance of the acids used for sample digestion, difficulties analyzing in a high uranium matrix, and data combination and uncertainty evaluation for this large dataset.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001; AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1898355
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-21-21845; TRN: US2310880
Journal Information:
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 331, Issue 9; ISSN 0236-5731
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
uranium ore concentrate
Certified Reference Materials
trace elements
inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry