Total Mercury Analysis of Radioactive Waste Containing Multiple Mercury Species

Journal Article · Tue Oct 25 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08513-9· OSTI ID:1915266

Looney, Brian B. ^[1]; Brown, Leigh W. ^[1]; Jones, Mark A. ^[1]; White, Thomas L. ^[1]

---

1. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)

In this work, a direct mercury analyzer (DMA) was used to analyze total mercury in radioactive waste samples containing methylmercury and other forms of mercury including Hg^o (elemental) together with inorganic ionic mercury species and complexes. These samples were also analyzed using Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (CVAAS) and/or Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICMS). Comparative statistical evaluation of the results from spike solutions/simulants, liquid radioactive waste samples, and interlaboratory performance test samples demonstrated that the various methods generated accurate and/or equivalent total mercury data and equivalent precision (2σ ± < 20%). Triplicate total mercury analysis of an exemplar radioactive waste resulted in an average value of 54.1 mg/L (as Hg) using CVAAS, 55.1 mg/L using ICPMS and 56.0 mg/L using DMA. A primary advantage of the DMA in a radioactive environment is avoiding multi-step, labor-intensive, time-consuming and waste-producing sample preparation protocols needed for CVAAS and ICPMS. DMA was determined to be the preferred method for measuring total mercury in the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) radioanalytical laboratory based on analytical performance combined with ease of use in a radiological containment unit.

• Research Organization: Savannah River National Lab (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
• Grant/Contract Number: 89303321CEM000080; AC09-09SR22505
• OSTI ID: 1915266
• Report Number(s): SRNL-STI-2022-00431
• Journal Information: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 331; ISSN 0236-5731
• Publisher: Springer
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
Mercury
analysis
cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy
direct Mercury analyzer
inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy
radioactive waste