Maintaining High Resolution Mass Spectrometry Capabilities for National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Applications

The Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has a specialized need for analyzing low mass gas species at very high resolutions. The currently preferred analytical method is electromagnetic sector mass spectrometry. This method allows the NNSA Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE) to resolve species of similar masses down to acceptable minimum detection limits (MDLs). Some examples of these similar masses are helium-4/deuterium and carbon monoxide/nitrogen. Through the 1980s and 1990s, there were two vendors who supplied and supported these instruments. However, with declining procurements and down turns in the economy, the supply of instruments, service and spare parts from these vendors has become less available, and in some cases, nonexistent. The largest NSE user of this capability is the Savannah River Site (SRS), located near Aiken, South Carolina. The Research and Development Engineering (R&DE) Group in the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) investigated the areas of instrument support that were needed to extend the life cycle of these aging instruments. Their conclusions, as to the focus areas of electromagnetic sector mass spectrometers to address, in order of priority, were electronics, software and hardware. Over the past 3-5 years, the R&DE Group has designed state of the art electronics and software that will allow high resolution legacy mass spectrometers, critical to the NNSA mission, to be operated for the foreseeable future. The funding support for this effort has been from several sources, including the SRS Defense Programs, NNSA Readiness Campaign, Pantex Plant and Sandia National Laboratory. To date, electronics systems have been upgraded on one development system at SRNL, two production systems at Pantex and one production system at Sandia National Laboratory. An NSE working group meets periodically to review strategies going forward. The R&DE Group has also applied their work to the electronics for a Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS) instrument, which applies a similar mass spectrometric technology for resolving high mass isotopes, such as plutonium and uranium. Due to non-compete clauses for DOE, all work has been performed and applied to instruments which are obsolete and are no longer supported by the original vendor