Microscopic studies of spherical particles for nuclear safeguards

Direct uranium isotope ratio analysis of single micrometer-sized glass particles

“…SIMS offers the advantage of combining the localization of particles collected by means of swipes and the determination of the isotopic information in one instrument ( Betti et al., 1999 ). Moreover, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX) is applied for the localization of particles and the determination of the elemental composition ( Ciurapinski et al., 2002 ; Donohue et al., 2008 ), as well as morphological characterization of the particles ( Kips et al., 2007 ; Ranebo et al., 2007 ).…”

Characterization of uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) with Raman spectroscopy

“…[12,13] This gap in UF 4 spectral properties is particularly acute as Raman spectroscopy measurements are a convenient and straightforward characterization technique for industrial processing as well as nuclear safeguards and nuclear forensic methods focused on identification of particulate species. [14][15][16] In particular, nuclear forensics represents an application where Raman analysis can provide unique probative data of chemical speciation in a timely fashion. The non-destructive nature of Raman analysis makes it well suited for the characterization of special nuclear material forensic samples from throughout the fuel cycle, including the uranium and plutonium fluorides.…”

Commissioning Plan for the Cameca NanoSIMS 50L

“…For example, particle morphology can be a diagnostic tool in determining particle origin and history (e.g., Bowen et al, 2013). For SIMS analysis in support of nuclear forensics, there have been efforts to use the technique to determine particle bulk composition (e.g., Betti et al 1999;Park et al 2017;Donohue et al 2008), F content (Kips et al 2007;Kips and Kristo 2009;, O isotope composition (Tamborini et al 2002(Tamborini et al , 2002bPajo et al 2001), and particle age (Faure and Dalger 2017;Wallenius et al 2001). It is generally well understood that uranium and plutonium oxide particles collected during environmental sampling campaigns can contain impurities that are readily observable using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) or X-ray diffraction (XRD) (e.g., Ranebo et al 2007;Torok et al 2004).…”

“…This was largely due to the volume of material consumed during the bulk-composition measurement and the fact that it is difficult to calculate accurate isotope ratios from TOF-SIMS data. At present, the most promising means of determining the bulk and trace elemental composition of single particles to complement SIMS actinide isotope data is to perform the bulk and/or trace element measurement using a nondestructive technique (e.g., EDS or XRD; e.g., Donohue et al 2008) before the SIMS analysis. For real environmental samples this typically requires isolation of the particle by micromanipulation (e.g., Donohue et al 2008;Esaka et al 2007), resulting in an increased processing time that diminishes one of the advantages of the SIMS techniquerapidity.…”