skip to main content
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

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:
 [1];  [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); 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.
Copy to clipboard
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.
Copy to clipboard
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.
Copy to clipboard
@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}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
DOI:  10.1016/j.talanta.2018.03.020
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Figures / Tables:

Table 1 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)
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referencing / citing this record:

Rapid paper spray mass spectrometry characterization of uranium and exemplar molecular species
journal, October 2019

  • Coopersmith, Kaitlin; Cody, Robert B.; Mannion, Joseph M.
  • Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, Vol. 33, Issue 22
  • DOI: 10.1002/rcm.8517
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Figures / Tables found in this record:

    Table 1 (p. 4)table
    Table 2 (p. 7)table
    Table 3 (p. 7)table
    Figure 1 (p. 9)figure
    Figure 2 (p. 10)figure
    Figure 3 (p. 11)figure
    Figure 4 (p. 12)figure
    Figure 5 (p. 13)figure
    Figure 6 (p. 14)figure
      [ × clear filter / sort ]
      Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: