Mass Spectrometric Determination of Transuranium Elements

Abstract

Abstract Mass spectrometric techniques are playing a predominant role for the determination of transuranium elements in bulk samples as well as in microparticles. Their applications to liquid and solid samples for the determination of the isotopic composition as well as for the concentration measurements are discussed. The new developments for the characterization of microparticles stemming from different release scenarios of radioactivity are considered. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and its hyphenation with other techniques for resolving isobaric interferences are presented. The application of glow discharge and laser ablation directly to solid samples is highlighted. Finally, the exploitation of secondary ion mass spectrometry, accelerator mass spectrometry, resonance ionization mass spectrometry, and thermal ionization mass spectrometry for the determination of the isotopic composition of uranium and plutonium in microparticles is illustrated. Keywords: Transuranium elementsmass spectrometryisotopic ratiosmicroparticlesbulk samples