Isotopic analysis of depleted zinc in Zn-64 using thermal ionization mass spectrometry

Abstract

Depleted zinc oxide (DZO) in Zn-64 is used as an additive in the cooling water of nuclear reactors to reduce the amount of radionuclides produced by radiation, which can accumulate in the oxide layer. For isotopic characterization of zinc oxide, measurements were performed using thermal ionization mass spectrometry with a simple filament configuration and the addition of silica-gel/phosphoric acid to enhance the ionization efficiency. Due to the absence of a certified reference material in the laboratory, several natural zinc samples were measured to select one of them and it was assumed that it has the representative isotopic composition published by IUPAC. The mass discrimination factor was then calculated for application to the isotopic determination of the DZO sample.