Preparation and calibration of a 231Pa reference material

Essex, Richard M.; Williams, Ross W.; Treinen, Kerri C.; Collé, Ronald; Fitzgerald, Ryan; Galea, Raphael; Keightley, John; LaRosa, Jerome; Laureano-Pérez, Lizbeth; Nour, Svetlana; Pibida, Leticia

doi:10.1007/s10967-019-06711-6

Preparation and calibration of a ²³¹Pa reference material

Journal Article · Thu Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06711-6· OSTI ID:1597216

^[1]; Williams, Ross W. ^[2]; Treinen, Kerri C. ^[2]; Collé, Ronald ^[1]; Fitzgerald, Ryan ^[1]; Galea, Raphael ^[3]; Keightley, John ^[4]; LaRosa, Jerome ^[1]; Laureano-Pérez, Lizbeth ^[1]; Nour, Svetlana ^[1]; Pibida, Leticia ^[1]

National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
National Research Council, Ottawa, ON (Canada)
National Physical Lab., Middlesex (United Kingdom)

A ²³¹Pa reference material has been characterized for amount of protactinium. This reference material is primarily intended for calibration of ²³³Pa tracers produced for ²³⁵U–²³¹Pa model age measurements associated with nuclear forensics and nuclear safeguards. Primary measurements for characterization were made by isotope dilution mass spectrometry of a purified ²³¹Pa solution using a ²³³Pa isotopic spike. The spike was calibrated by allowing multiple aliquots of the ²³³Pa spike solution to decay to ²³³U and then measuring the ingrown ²³³U by isotope dilution mass spectrometry using a certified uranium assay and isotopic standard as a reverse-spike. In conclusion, the new ²³¹Pa reference material will simplify calibration of the ²³³Pa isotope dilution spikes, provide metrological traceability, and potentially reduce the overall measurement uncertainty of model ages.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1597216

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1776668
OSTI ID: 22868163

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--789377; 986267

Journal Information:: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 322; ISSN 0236-5731

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited By (1)

An interlaboratory collaboration to determine consensus 231Pa/235U model ages of a uranium certified reference material for nuclear forensics Kayzar-Boggs, Theresa M.; Treinen, Kerri C.; Okubo, Ayako Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 323, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07030-x	journal	February 2020

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Related Subjects

231Pa
233Pa
38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
Isotope dilution mass spectrometry
Nuclear forensics
Radiochronometry
Reference material