Isolation of $^{236}$U and $^{239,240}$Pu from seawater samples and its determination by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866912192315523072 |
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| author | López-Lora, Mercedes Chamizo, Elena Villa-Alfageme, María Hurtado-Bermúdez, Santiago Casacuberta, Núria García-León, Manuel |
| author_facet | López-Lora, Mercedes Chamizo, Elena Villa-Alfageme, María Hurtado-Bermúdez, Santiago Casacuberta, Núria García-León, Manuel |
| contents | In this work we present and evaluate a radiochemical procedure optimised for the analysis of $^{236}$U and $^{239,240}$Pu in seawater samples by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). The method is based on Fe(OH)$_3$ co-precipitation of actinides and uses TEVA and UTEVA extraction chromatography resins in a simplified way for the final U and Pu purification. In order to improve the performance of the method, the radiochemical yields are analysed in 1 to 10 L seawater volumes using alpha spectrometry (AS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Robust 80% plutonium recoveries are obtained; however, it is found that Fe(III) concentration in the precipitation solution and sample volume are the two critical and correlated parameters influencing the initial uranium extraction through Fe(OH)$_3$ co-precipitation. Therefore, we propose an expression that optimises the sample volume and Fe(III) amounts according to both the $^{236}$U and $^{239,240}$Pu concentrations in the samples and the performance parameters of the AMS facility. The method is validated for the current setup of the 1 MV AMS system (CNA, Sevilla, Spain), where He gas is used as a stripper, by analysing a set of intercomparison seawater samples, together with the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (ETH, Zürich, Switzerland). |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_10123 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Isolation of $^{236}$U and $^{239,240}$Pu from seawater samples and its determination by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry López-Lora, Mercedes Chamizo, Elena Villa-Alfageme, María Hurtado-Bermúdez, Santiago Casacuberta, Núria García-León, Manuel Applied Physics In this work we present and evaluate a radiochemical procedure optimised for the analysis of $^{236}$U and $^{239,240}$Pu in seawater samples by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). The method is based on Fe(OH)$_3$ co-precipitation of actinides and uses TEVA and UTEVA extraction chromatography resins in a simplified way for the final U and Pu purification. In order to improve the performance of the method, the radiochemical yields are analysed in 1 to 10 L seawater volumes using alpha spectrometry (AS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Robust 80% plutonium recoveries are obtained; however, it is found that Fe(III) concentration in the precipitation solution and sample volume are the two critical and correlated parameters influencing the initial uranium extraction through Fe(OH)$_3$ co-precipitation. Therefore, we propose an expression that optimises the sample volume and Fe(III) amounts according to both the $^{236}$U and $^{239,240}$Pu concentrations in the samples and the performance parameters of the AMS facility. The method is validated for the current setup of the 1 MV AMS system (CNA, Sevilla, Spain), where He gas is used as a stripper, by analysing a set of intercomparison seawater samples, together with the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (ETH, Zürich, Switzerland). |
| title | Isolation of $^{236}$U and $^{239,240}$Pu from seawater samples and its determination by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry |
| topic | Applied Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.10123 |