Journal ArticleDOI
Analysis of naturally produced technetium and plutonium in geologic materials.
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
A quantitative procedure for measuring subpicogram quantities of plutonium and technetium in gram quantities of geologic matrices such as uranium ores is developed, which takes advantage of the aggressive properties of sodium peroxide/hydroxide fusion to ensure complete dissolution and homogenization of complex materials.Abstract:
In uncontaminated natural materials, plutonium and technetium exist exclusively as products (daughters) of nuclear reactions in which uranium is the principal reactant (parent). Under conditions of chemical stability over geologic periods of time, the relative abundances of daughter and parent elements are fixed by the rates of nuclear reactions and the decay of the daughter radionuclide. The state of this nuclear secular equilibrium condition is the primary basis of the geochemical study of these elements in nature. Thus, it is critical that nuclear parent and daughter abundances are measured in the same sample. We have developed a quantitative procedure for measuring subpicogram quantities of plutonium and technetium in gram quantities of geologic matrices such as uranium ores. The procedure takes advantage of the aggressive properties of sodium peroxide/hydroxide fusion to ensure complete dissolution and homogenization of complex materials, the precision provided by isotope dilution techniques, and the...read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Critical comparison of radiometric and mass spectrometric methods for the determination of radionuclides in environmental, biological and nuclear waste samples.
Xiaolin Hou,Per Roos +1 more
TL;DR: These methods are critically compared for the determination of long-lived radionuclides important for radiation protection, decommissioning of nuclear facilities, repository of nuclear waste, tracer application in the environmental and biological researches.
Journal ArticleDOI
Determination of technetium-99 in environmental samples: A review
TL;DR: The sample preparation, pre-concentration, chemical separation and purification for removal of the interferences for detection of ( 99)Tc are the most important issues governing the accurate determination of (99)TC.
Journal ArticleDOI
Optimised method for the routine determination of Technetium-99 in environmental samples by liquid scintillation counting
TL;DR: In this paper, a method was developed for the routine determination of 99 Tc in a range of environmental matrices using 99 m Tc (t 1/2=6.06h) as an internal yield monitor.
Journal ArticleDOI
Atomic spectrometry update. Atomic mass spectrometry
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art work on atomic mass spectrometers can be found in this paper, with a focus on the most significant developments in instrumentation and methodology or improved understanding of the fundamental phenomena involved in the MS process.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nature`s uncommon elements: Plutonium and technetium
TL;DR: In this article, the Cigar Lake uranium deposit was measured in ores from the uranium deposit, in which U concentrations ranged from 0.3 to 55 wt% and atomic ratios ranged from 1.4 × 10 −12 to 51 × 10−12 for 99Tc/U and 2.4× 10 − 12 to 44 × 10 ¼ 12 for 239Pu/U.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Technetium in nature
B.T. Kenna,P.K. Kuroda +1 more
TL;DR: A sample of African pitchblende was found to contain between 2·5−3·1 × 10−10 g of 99Tc per kilogram ore, but no other technetium isotopes were detected as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mass spectrometry of technetium at the subpicogram level
TL;DR: In this paper, Lanthanum oxide ion enhancers in conjunction with Ca(NO{sub 3})-sub 2 are added to single, zone-refined rhenium filaments to achieve ionization efficiencies that are >2% for the formation of TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}}.
Journal ArticleDOI
Isolation of microgram quantities of naturally-occurring plutonium and examination of its isotopic composition
Journal ArticleDOI
Thermal ionization mass spectrometry of uranium with electrodeposition as a loading technique
TL;DR: In this article, a 1.5 X 10/sup -4/for 10 ng at a temperature of 1620 +/- 10 /sup 0/C was achieved for NBS U-500, a 1/1 235/238 isotopic standard.
Journal ArticleDOI
Half-life of 229Th.
TL;DR: In this paper, the half-life of {sup 229}Th was determined to be 7880 plus minus 120 yr. This value is approximately 7% greater than the presently accepted value of 7340{plus minus}160 yr.