Determining yttrium in plutonium by anion-exchange x-ray fluorescence

This report describes a method for determining yttrium in plutonium using an anion-exchange separation and x-ray fluorescence. We add zirconium to the plutonium solution as an internal standard. We oxidize the plutonium to Pu + 4 and pass the solution through an anion-exchange column with 8M HCl. The Pu + 4 sorbs to the resin and the yttrium and zirconium pass through completely. We evaporate the eluate solution containing the yttrium and zirconium and transfer it to a 10-ml volumetric flask. We add a portion of this solution to an x-ray cell and measure the Ka x-ray line for both yttrium and zirconium. The ratio of yttrium to zirconium is then compared with standards. This method has a precision of 0.84% relative standard deviation for yttrium over a concentration range of 0.5 to 3.5 mg in a 10-ml volume. 1 ref., 2 figs., 2 tabs