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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Determination of Technetium-99 and Iodine-129 by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Conference ·
OSTI ID:126715
 [1]
  1. Savannah River Technology Center, Aiken, SC (United States)

The Savannah River Technology Center has developed procedures to rapidly and selectively determine the concentration of Tc-99 or I-129 in aqueous samples by isotope dilution/inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Because of the high fission yield (approximately 6% for both isotopes), long half life (2.1 x 10{sup 5} and 1.6 x 10{sup 7} years, respectively), mobility in the environment, and possible health effects, monitoring of Tc-99 and I-129 are required around nuclear facilities. Previous analyses of Tc-99 and I-129 in environmental samples often required lengthy chemical separations and large sample sizes to achieve the desired isotopic specificity and detection limits. Using the new procedures, several samples can be processed simultaneously for either Tc-99 or I-129, with minimal hands-on requirements. Up to five samples per hour can be analyzed using the ICP-MS protocol, resulting in a detection limit of less than 1 pCi/L for either isotope, when using a one liter initial sample volume.

OSTI ID:
126715
Report Number(s):
CONF-950402--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English