A combined method for the determination of the isotopic vector of plutonium isotopes in environmental samples

Author(s)

Erich Hrnecek, Rozle Jakopic, Anton Wallner, Peter Steier

Abstract

A combination of alpha-spectrometry, liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was used for the determination of plutonium isotopes. 238Pu and 239+240Pu were measured by alpha-spectrometry after separation of Pu by anion-exchange using 236Pu tracer as recovery monitor. After alpha-measurement, one part of the sample was dissolved for determining 241Pu by LSC. Another part was used for the measurement of the 240Pu/239Pu atom ratio by AMS at VERA. Thus, it was possible to obtain complete information on the Pu isotopic composition of the samples. This method was applied to environmental reference samples and samples contaminated from nuclear reprocessing. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Organisation(s)

Isotope Physics

External organisation(s)

Austrian Research Centers GmbH (ARC Seibersdorf), Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS)

Journal

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

Volume

276

Pages

789-793

No. of pages

5

ISSN

0236-5731

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-008-0633-7

Publication date

2008

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103005 Atomic physics

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/2d6c9851-08cd-4679-8194-eeaee9939670