Actinides at the crossroads: ICP-MS or alpha-particle spectrometry?

Although many techniques are available for determination of the actinide elements, alpha-particle spectrometry remains a popular choice within the radioanalytical community because of its performance, availability, and familiarity. Outside radioanalytical circles, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is being applied with increasing frequency to many of the same measurements because of its isotopic selectivity, speed, and sensitivity. At Argonne National Laboratory, the authors are exploiting the strengths of both techniques as they develop new radioanalytical procedures in support of environmental restoration at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. In this presentation, the authors will describe a new preparative strategy which allows an analyst to flexibly choose either measurement technique, and they will compare the performance of both techniques as they are applied to the determination of actinide isotopes in soils and smears. This comparison suggests that alpha-particle spectrometry and ICP-MS can be used interchangeably in many applications. On that basis, the authors are continuing to refine analytical procedures with the goal of widespread implementation in the near future