Use of an ion mobility spectrometer for detecting uranium compounds

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2018.03.020

Title: Use of an ion mobility spectrometer for detecting uranium compounds

Abstract

The safeguards community currently lacks a method to rapidly determine the chemical form of radioactive and non-radioactive compounds in real time during inspection activities. Chemical speciation identification can provide important information on both the types of materials that are collected during environmental sampling and can inform inspectors as to where to focus efforts during inspections or complementary access visits. Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) is an established field technique for the detection of explosives, narcotics, and other organic compounds. More recently, electrospray ionization (ESI) has been used to introduce inorganic compounds to IMS instruments for analysis. These techniques have shown the ability to supply chemical information about the compounds being analyzed. Although these laboratory based instruments use a liquid-based injection system, there is evidence in the literature of unaltered and intact pharmaceutical tablets being volatilized and ionized in open atmosphere using heat and a Ni-63 source. Lastly, this work determined that a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) IMS could be used for the identification of solid uranium compounds directly after sampling using a COTS sample swipe.

Authors:

McLain, Derek R. ^[1]; Steeb, Jennifer L. ^[1]; Smith, Nicholas A. ^[1]

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Publication Date:: 2018-03-09

Research Org.:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

OSTI Identifier:: 1433059

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Talanta

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 184; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0039-9140

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Safeguards; Ion Mobility Spectrometry; Rapid Analysis; Uranium

Citation Formats


                    McLain, Derek R., Steeb, Jennifer L., and Smith, Nicholas A. Use of an ion mobility spectrometer for detecting uranium compounds.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
        Web.  doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2018.03.020.

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                    McLain, Derek R., Steeb, Jennifer L., & Smith, Nicholas A. Use of an ion mobility spectrometer for detecting uranium compounds.  United States.  doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2018.03.020.

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                    McLain, Derek R., Steeb, Jennifer L., and Smith, Nicholas A. Fri .  
        "Use of an ion mobility spectrometer for detecting uranium compounds".  United States.  doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2018.03.020.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1433059.

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@article{osti_1433059,

  title        = {Use of an ion mobility spectrometer for detecting uranium compounds},

  author       = {McLain, Derek R. and Steeb, Jennifer L. and Smith, Nicholas A.},

  abstractNote = {The safeguards community currently lacks a method to rapidly determine the chemical form of radioactive and non-radioactive compounds in real time during inspection activities. Chemical speciation identification can provide important information on both the types of materials that are collected during environmental sampling and can inform inspectors as to where to focus efforts during inspections or complementary access visits. Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) is an established field technique for the detection of explosives, narcotics, and other organic compounds. More recently, electrospray ionization (ESI) has been used to introduce inorganic compounds to IMS instruments for analysis. These techniques have shown the ability to supply chemical information about the compounds being analyzed. Although these laboratory based instruments use a liquid-based injection system, there is evidence in the literature of unaltered and intact pharmaceutical tablets being volatilized and ionized in open atmosphere using heat and a Ni-63 source. Lastly, this work determined that a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) IMS could be used for the identification of solid uranium compounds directly after sampling using a COTS sample swipe.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.talanta.2018.03.020},

  journal      = {Talanta},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 184,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2018},

  month        = {3}

}

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Journal Article:

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DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.03.020

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Figures / Tables:

Table 1: Common instruments used for detecting uranium contamination, along with their detection method, typical background activity, and the corresponding mass of DU.

All figures and tables (9 total)

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