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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Radionuclide analysis using ICP-MS

Conference ·
OSTI ID:214566
 [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

The analysis of radionuclides presents a challenge to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) techniques. This is true because: (1) greater than 120 isotopes are in some of the samples; (2) the isotope concentration varied from a few percent to a few ppt of the sample; (3) the isotopes are a mixtures of natural and non-natural isotopes; (4) there is a severe isobaric interference; and (5) the commercial data base does not consider non-natural isotopes. Several methods have been developed for the analysis of actinides. Over one hundred isotopes with natural and non-natural abundances have been successfully analyzed using ICP-MS. The results from ICP-MS analysis agreed well with radiochemical counting techniques. The ICP-MS technique for radionuclide analysis demonstrated better sensitivities than {alpha}- and {gamma}-counting techniques for radionuclides with half-lives longer than 1000 years.

OSTI ID:
214566
Report Number(s):
CONF-950801--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English