Flow injection sample pretreatment for the determination of radionuclides in soils by ICP-MS

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:191661

Hollenbach, M; Grohs, J; Mamich, S ^[1]

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1. Dept. of Energy, Grand Junctions, CO (United States)

The U.S. Department of Energy needs improved analytical methods for alpha- and beta-emitting radionuclides to support environmental restoration and waste management projects. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been used successfully to measure radionuclides with relatively long half-lives, however, ICP-MS used with conventional sample introduction techniques lacks the sensitivity or selectivity to measure shorter lived radionuclides at levels important for environmental monitoring. A new method was developed for measuring {sup 99}Tc, {sup 230}Th, {sup 234}U, and {sup 239}Pu in soils. Samples are dried, ground, and dissolved by fusion. A flow injection (FI) analysis system is used to separate and concentrate the analytes by solid-phase extraction. The FI eluent is pumped directly into the nebulizer of the ICP-MS. The use of FI resulted in greater sensitivity and freedom from interferences compared with direct aspiration. Detection limits are improved by approximately a factor of 10. The FI-ICP-MS method is faster, less labor intensive, and generates less laboratory waste than traditional radiochemical methods. The accuracy of the method was verified by analyzing reference soils.

• DOE Contract Number: AC04-86ID12584
• OSTI ID: 191661
• Report Number(s): CONF-941098--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
40 CHEMISTRY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
EXTRACTION
ICP MASS SPECTROSCOPY
PLUTONIUM 239
SOILS
TECHNETIUM 99
THORIUM 230
URANIUM 234