Year
2008
Abstract
In addition to standardizing to a standard reference material (SRM) or a certified reference material (CRM), an internal material of high quality is used as a QC to validate the day-to-day operation for plutonium assay by coulometry. A single plutonium oxide material has been in use as a control sample for more than a decade with analytical information dating back to 1986. In this study, analytical data on the control sample including decay correction, assay, isotopic distribution, daughter products and impurity analyses are used to generate the long-term validation of the characterization of a plutonium oxide control material This includes updating the isotopic compositions of Pu and its U daughter products using modern mass spectrometric techniques. The new data is used to validate and evaluate older calibrations.