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Gallium Content in PuO{sub 2} Using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

Conference ·
OSTI ID:762289
Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) has been applied to the semi-quantitative analysis of gallium in plutonium oxide at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility. The oxide samples were generated by the Thermally Induced Gallium Removal (TIGR) process, a pretreatment step prior to MOX fuel processing. The TIGR process uses PuO{sub 2} containing 1 wt% gallium (nominal) as feed material. Following the TIGR process, gallium content was analyzed by LIBS and also by conventional wet chemical analysis (ICP-MS). Although the data range was insufficient to obtain an adequate calibration, general agreement between the two techniques was good. LIBS was found to have a useful analytical range of 34-400 ppm for Ga in PuO{sub 2}.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
762289
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-99-2785
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English