Issue 2, 2017

Measurement of uranium-236 in particles by secondary ion mass spectrometry

Abstract

The determination of the relative isotopic abundance by secondary ion mass spectrometry of 236U in uranium-containing material is complicated by the presence of 235U1H+ ions at the same nominal mass as the uranium isotopic peak. The net intensity of the 236U signal is usually determined by a peak-stripping procedure, whereby the 235U1H+ contribution is obtained by applying the 238U1H+/238U+ ratio to the 235U+ signal. The subtraction of one signal from another has consequences for the uncertainty of the final 236U abundance determination that may be especially significant when the amount of sample is limited, as is the case with small uranium particles that are of great interest for nuclear safeguards. We have developed a model based on Poisson counting statistics to determine the effects of various parameters on the uncertainty of the 236U abundance, including uranium enrichment level, hydride-to-parent ratio, uranium mass consumed during analysis, single versus multichannel counting, and sample substrate composition. The model predictions have been successfully tested against experimental measurements of uranium oxide particles of both 3% and 90% enrichment in 235U.

Graphical abstract: Measurement of uranium-236 in particles by secondary ion mass spectrometry

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Nov 2016
Accepted
22 Dec 2016
First published
12 Jan 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2017,32, 393-401

Measurement of uranium-236 in particles by secondary ion mass spectrometry

D. S. Simons and J. D. Fassett, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2017, 32, 393 DOI: 10.1039/C6JA00402D

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