Comparison of femtosecond and nanosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for uranium isotopic measurements

Technical Report · Thu Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1329537· OSTI ID:1329537

Havrilla, George Joseph ^[1]; McIntosh, Kathryn Gallagher ^[1]; Judge, Elizabeth ^[1]; Dirmyer, Matthew R. ^[1]; Campbell, Keri ^[1]; Gonzalez, Jhanis J. ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Applied Spectra Inc., Fremont, CA (United States)

Feasibility tests were conducted using femtosecond and nanosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for rapid uranium isotopic measurements. The samples used in this study consisted of a range of pg quantities of known 235/238 U solutions as dried spot residues of 300 pL drops on silicon substrates. The samples spanned the following enrichments of ²³⁵U: 0.5, 1.5, 2, 3, and 15.1%. In this direct comparison using these particular samples both pulse durations demonstrated near equivalent data can be produced on either system with respect to accuracy and precision. There is no question that either LA-ICP-MS method offers the potential for rapid, accurate and precise isotopic measurements of U10Mo materials whether DU, LEU or HEU. The LA-ICP-MS equipment used for this work is commercially available. The program is in the process of validating this work for large samples using center samples strips from Y-12 MP-1 LEU-Mo Casting #1.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Material Management and Minimization
• Contributing Organization: Applied Spectra Inc., Fremont, CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1329537
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-16-27341; TRN: US1700379
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ICP MASS SPECTROSCOPY
DEPLETED URANIUM
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
URANIUM 235
URANIUM 238
ABLATION
ACCURACY
LASER RADIATION
ENRICHMENT
PULSES
RESIDUES
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
ISOTOPE RATIO
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
MODERATELY ENRICHED URANIUM
URANIUM BASE ALLOYS
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
BINARY ALLOY SYSTEMS