Year
2013
Abstract
The Nuclear Analytical Chemistry and Isotopics Laboratories (NACIL) Group leads the analytical effort for a variety of nuclear projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Major projects include: 1) production of radioisotopes Pu-238 and Cf-252; 2) detailed destructive assays of irradiated fuels and targets for the confirmation of depletion codes and validation of NDA measurements used for safeguards; and 3) measurement of signatures in nuclear materials for the safeguarding and non-proliferation of uranium and plutonium materials. All have project specific requirements for the analyses of various lanthanide and actinide elements and their isotopic distributions, which are needed to a high degree of accuracy for a variety of nuclear materials with matrix specific interference issues to overcome. Over the past couple of years, the NACIL has implemented various HPLC-ICPMS measurement protocols for the quantification of these elements and their isotopes to meet the needs of the respective nuclear projects. These include the measurement of Pu and Np valance states in dissolver solutions, rapid analysis of Am and Cm isotopes requiring baseline separation of the two elements, high-precision assays and isotopics using IDMS, and measurement of Pa-231 for age dating enriched uranium. Presented is an overview of specific ORNL nuclear projects, and includes the HPLC-ICPMS protocols implemented to satisfy their analytical requirements for the quantification of project specific lanthanide and actinide isotopes.