Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Development of on-line EDXRF to monitor actinide contaminated waste streams

Conference ·
OSTI ID:210229
;  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
A commercially available on-line energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) system was modified for glove box operations and installed on the Advanced Testing Line for Actinide Separations (ATLAS) at Los Alamos, Actinides and metal impurities in an anion-exchange effluent were monitored to obtain near-real-time chemical information. This system demonstrated continuous monitoring of flowing actinide waste streams for the elements above atomic number 14. The EDXRF supplied semiquantitative and quantitative information, and with development and implementation of more rigorous analysis techniques, better quantitative results are possible, The analytic range were from the ppm level to weight percent compositions. Initial pre concentration experiments indicated that even lower levels of analysis with the on-line EDXRF may be possible. The use of the Si(Li) detector for both gamma and x-ray emissions enabled on-line analysis of americium to ppb levels.
OSTI ID:
210229
Report Number(s):
CONF-9509139--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English