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Published on: May 20, 2019
Determination of 236U in environmental samples by single extraction chromatography coupled to triple-quadrupole
Guosheng Yang1, Hirofumi Tazoe2, Masatoshi Yamada2
1Department of Radiation Chemistry, Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine, Hirosaki University, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori, 036-8564, Japan; Division of Nuclear Technology and Applications, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Beijing, 100049, China.
Abstract:
In order to measure trace 236U and 236U/238U in environmental samples with a high matrix effect, a novel and simple method was developed that makes the digestion and purification procedures compatible with advanced triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. A total dissolution of sample with HF + HNO3 + HClO4 was followed by chromatographic separation with a single resin column containing normal type DGA resin (N,N,N',N'-tetra-n-octyldiglycolamide) as the extractant system. The analytical accuracy and precision of 236U/238U ratios, measured as 236U16O+/238U16O+, were examined by using the reference materials IAEA-135, IAEA-385, IAEA-447, and JSAC 0471. The low method detection limit (3.50 × 10-6 Bq kg-1) makes it possible to perform routine monitoring of environmental 236U due to global fallout combined with the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident fallout (>10-5 Bq kg-1). Finally, the developed method was successfully applied to measure 236U/238U ratios and 236U activities in soil samples contaminated by the accident. The low 236U/238U atom ratios ((1.50-13.5) × 10-8) and 236U activities ((2.25-14.1) × 10-2 mBq kg-1) indicate 236U contamination was mainly derived from global fallout in the examined samples.
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