Mass spectrometric analysis for nuclear safeguards

Abstract

Mass spectrometry is currently being implemented in a wide spectrum of research and industrial areas, such as materials science, cosmo-and geochemistry, biology and medicine, to name just a few. Research and development in nuclear safeguards is closely related to the general field of "Peace Research", representing a specific application area for analytical sciences in general and for mass spectrometry in particular. According to Albert Einstein "peace cannot be kept by force. It only can be achieved by understanding". Understanding implies a realistic estimation of potential challenges and threats, which is based on the ability to obtain timely, reliable and independent information. A particular task of international nuclear material safeguards is reducing threats that are posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons. An important part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system is the "analytical laboratory", with mass spectrometric techniques, such as thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) belonging to the most powerful methods for the analysis of nuclear material and environmental samples collected during inspections. Each of the currently applied techniques provides definite merits (e.g. precision, accuracy, timeeffectiveness, high sensitivity, spatial resolution, reduced molecular interference, etc.) for a specific safeguards related application. Thus, taking advantage of each technique helps the analyst to gain a larger quantity of safeguards-relevant information. Along with the analysis of element amounts and isotopic compositions of uranium and plutonium in nuclear material the challenging applications of mass spectrometry include isotopic analysis of micro-samples, age determination of nuclear material as well as identification and quantification of elemental and isotopic signatures of inspection samples in general.Analysis of inspection samples implies strict quality control procedures and it demands the production of suitable certified isotopic reference materials which are used as calibration standards or as quality control samples. This manuscript discusses merits and limitations of presently available mass spectrometric

A novel nuclear forensic tool involving deposit type normalized rare earth element signatures

“…Numerous studies have investigated rare earth element (REE) signatures of U ores from diverse origins, and these are indeed effective provenance indicators when normalized to chondritic abundances (e.g. Alexandre, Kyser, Layton-Matthews, Joy, & Uvarova, 2015;Bonhoure, Kister, Cuney, & Deloule, 2007;Boulyga, Konegger-Kappel, Richter, & Sangely, 2015;Fleischer & Altschuler, 1969;Frimmel, Schedel, & Br€ atz, 2014;Mayer, Wallenius, & Ray, 2005;Mercadier et al, 2011).…”

Uranium ion yields from monodisperse uranium oxide particles

“…It is capable of both imaging a sample as well as performing isotopic analyses with mass resolutions ranging from 2 000 to 25, 000. The IMS-1270 E7 is particularly suited for uranium isotopic analyses as the mass resolving power can be set to reject all molecular isobaric interferences, with the exception of uranium hydrides, and it can achieve levels of precision for isotopic measurements of uranium in particles that are compatible with the requirements of nuclear safeguards [1]. …”

“…Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) plays an important role in nuclear forensics through its ability to identify isotopic ratios of particles accurately and precisely from samples obtained by inspectors [1]. As the particle mass can be on the order of subpicograms, it is important to maximize the sample utilization efficiency of U + to make high-quality isotopic measurements.…”

Long-term stability of cellulose acetate butyrate thin films for nuclear certified reference materials

“…Each individual spike contains about 50 mg uranium ( m ( 235 U)/ m (U) ~ 20 %) and 1.8 mg plutonium ( m ( 239 Pu)/ m (Pu) ~ 98 %) in dried nitrate form, allowing the undiluted spent fuel solution to be added quantitatively to them. The measurements are carried out with Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ID-TIMS) by plant operators and safeguards authorities by the European Commission and also outside EU [5]. The uncertainty that is introduced by this reference material is very low, and allows the laboratories to achieve IDMS measurements results with uncertainties below the target value of 0.28 % for hot-cell conditions, expressed as a relative standard uncertainty [6, 7].…”