Fast chemical separations and laser mass spectrometry – tools for nuclear research

Abstract

Fast chemical methods / Discontinuous and continuous separation procedures / Investigation of short-lived nuclei / Resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) / Ultra trace analysis of plutonium and neptunium / First ionization potentials of the actinides and technetiumSummary. Fast chemical separation procedures applied in nuclear research require dedicated experimental techniques. Rapid discontinuous separation procedures are illustrated by an example to isolate technetium from fission products. The use of a gas jet and its combination with a thermochromatographic separation and with the continuous solvent extraction technique SISAK is described and examples are given for the investigation of short-lived fission products. The potential of resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) as a highly sensitive technique using different experimental systems is outlined for ultra trace analysis of long-lived plutonium and neptunium isotopes, including isotope ratio measurements of the plutonium isotopes. In addition, the precise determination of the first ionization potentials (IP) of ten actinide elements up to einsteinium and of technetium carried out by using the photoionization threshold method and requiring sample sizes of ∼ 10 12 atoms is presented.

Chemistry of superheavy elements

“…Increasingly fast and automated chemical separation techniques were first applied to study short-lived nuclides from nuclear fission; see the companion article [90] in this special issue and [91,92] for reviews of earlier works. Also the discovery of new chemical elements up to Md (Z = 101) -presumably the first one-atom-at-a-time chemistry -was accomplished by chemical means [93] and gas-phase chemistry played an important role in the discovery claims of elements 104 and 105 [3].…”

Determination of Trace Fission Products Associated with Thorium and HCl Matrix by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry after Anion Exchange Separation

“…However, the "cold" research is the necessary step before the "hot" test and real spent fuel reprocessing. In this step, the simulated feed solution containing stable isotopes of FPs without radioactivity is used, so the spectroscopic methods including atomic emission spectrometry (AES) 2,5 and mass spectrometry (MS) [6][7][8] are usually available for determination of trace FPs. Among these methods, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has attracted special attention due to its simultaneous measurement capability, wide analytical dynamic range and high sensitivity.…”