Separation of plutonium in urine without sample ashing for determination by. cap alpha. -spectrometry

Journal Article · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981 · Anal. Chem.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ac00231a032· OSTI ID:6342431

Kressin, I K

Present methods for the analysis of plutonium in urine require ashing the organic constituents of the sample, a time-consuming procedure and a major source of error. A method was developed to quantitatively separate 25 fCi of plutonium directly from 800 cm/sup 3/ of urine by coprecipitation with calcium oxalate. Without ashing, the oxalate precipitate is directly dissolved in 7.2 M HNO/sub 3/ and the plutonium is isolated by anion exchange, electrodeposited, and then measured by ..cap alpha..-spectrometry. The results are in excellent agreement with results obtained by existing procedures, and for 194 samples the average recovery of the plutonium tracer was 91% with a standard deviation of +- 10. The average recovery of the plutonium isotope in quality control samples was 101% when corrected for the /sup 242/Pu tracer recovery.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California, Los Alamos, NM
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6342431
• Journal Information: Anal. Chem.; (United States), Journal Name: Anal. Chem.; (United States) Vol. 53:8; ISSN ANCHA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400103* -- Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures-- (-1987)
400105 -- Separation Procedures
ACTINIDES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ALPHA SPECTROSCOPY
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BIOLOGICAL WASTES
BODY FLUIDS
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CARBOXYLIC ACID SALTS
COPRECIPITATION
ELEMENTS
MATERIALS
METALS
OXALATES
PLUTONIUM
PRECIPITATION
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URINE
WASTES