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LA-UR-94- 9 _ " 0 4; 6 g
Titlo: "ACTINIDE DETERMINATION AND ANALYTICAL
• SUPPORT FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF
ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES"
Author(s): Donald J. Rokop, Deward W. Efurd, Richard E. Perrin
Los Alamos
NATIONAL LABORATORY
Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy
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FormNo.836 R5
HAR0 8 1994
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ACTINIDE DETERMINATIONAND ANALYTICAL SUPPORT FOR
CHARACTERIZATIONOF ENVIRONMENTALSAMPLES
Donald J. Rokop,DewardW. Efurd,anti,RichardE. Perrin*
ChemicalScienceand TechnologyDivision
LosAlamosNationalLaboratory
LosAlamos,New Mexico USA
* NowwithRadianCorporation
' White Rock,New Mexico USA
' IAEA-SM-333/99
ACTINIDE DETERMINATIONAND ANALYTICAL SUPPORT FOR
CHARACTERIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTALSAMPLES
ABSTRACT
Clean chemical and Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS) procedures have
been developed to permit the determination of environmental actinide element
concentrations and isotopic signatures. The isotopic signatures help identify element
origin and separate naturally occurring or background contributions from local
anthropogenicsources.Typicalsample sizes for processingare 2 liters of water, 1-10
gramsof sediment,and 1-20 gramsof soil. MeasurementlimitsforPu, Am, and Np are
< 1 X 108 atoms,and for U are < 2.5 X 1012atoms. For isotopicsignatures,< 5 X 108
atoms of Pu, Am, and Np are necessary,and 8 X 1012 atomsof U are required. Of
potential interest to the IAEA is the incorporationof these techniques into their
SafeguardsAnalyticalLaboratoryfor environmentalsampling.Studiesmadeof surface
waters,sedimentsand soilsfrom the RockyFlats Plant (RFP) in Colorado, USA, are
used as examples of this methodology. These studies showedthat, althoughplant
boundaryactinide concentrationsapproached,on the downstreamside, natural or
backgroundlevels, isotopic signaturescharacteristicof plant operations were still
discernible.
1. INTRODUCTION
The United States underground nuclear weapons test program promoted the
developmentof "clean" chemicaland instrumentalmeasurementtechniques. These
techniquespermitthe analysisofvery smallconcentrationsof actinidesextractedfrom
very complexmatrices. In supportof thismission,LosAlamosNationalLaboratorybuilt