Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

A Practical Guide on Coupling a Scanning Mobility Sizer and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (SMPS-ICPMS)
Published on: July 11, 2017
PU and NP analysis of soil and sediment samples with ICP-MS
1Federal Office for Civil Protection, SPIEZ Laboratory, CH-3700 Spiez, Switzerland. stefan.roellin@babs.admin.ch
Abstract:
A method to analyse Pu and Np was optimised to achieve low detection limits and high sample throughput. Soil and sediment samples were ashed and digested with a borate fusion. After dissolving the melt in nitric acid, Pu and Np were separated on a TEVA extraction chromatopraphy column. It was measured with a sector field ICP-MS. Detection limits in soils and sediments as low as 1x10(-15)g/g for Pu and Np were achieved. The method was applied to reference materials, soil profiles from Switzerland and sediment samples from the river Yenisei (RU), where radioactive nuclides have been discharged.
Related Concept Videos
Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry (ICP–MS): Overview
Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS): Interferences
Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Principle
The ions and electrons produced interact with the fluctuating magnetic field created by a water-cooled...
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Lab
Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Instrumentation
There are three main types of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) instruments: sequential, simultaneous multichannel, and Fourier transform instruments, with the latter being less commonly used.
