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Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Separation of Uranium and Thorium for 230Th-U Dating of Submarine Hydrothermal Sulfides
Published on: May 20, 2019
Hyphenation of capillary electrophoresis with MC-ICP-MS - A novel tool for uranium age dating
Erwan Dupuis1, Hélène Isnard1, Charles Evette1
1DEN - Service D'Etudes Analytiques et de Réactivité des Surfaces (SEARS), CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Abstract:
Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was hyphenated to multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) to determine the model age of a highly enriched uranium (HEU) sample using the 234U/230Th radiochronometer. The use of hydroxymethylbutyric acid (HMBA) as the CE electrolyte was investigated, and a complexation stacking method was developed to increase the thorium signal obtained. The age of the material was determined by measuring the 230Th content of the HEU sample using isotope dilution in conjunction with the CE-MC-ICP-MS protocol. The CE-MC-ICP-MS protocol and a standard offline protocol using gravitational chromatography both gave results in accordance within uncertainties with the production date of the HEU sample (March 1965). Liquid waste production was only of a few microliters with the use of CE. The hyphenation of CE with MC-ICP-MS render the measurement of the age of the HEU material in less than one day possible. Obtaining results in a timely fashion is of particular importance for nuclear forensics studies.
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