In search of higher sensitivity: Pu isotopic analysis

Thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) is an effective method for isotopic and ultra-sensitivity determination of plutonium. This project aims at improving the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) TIMS system sensitivity for the analysis of plutonium from environmental samples. The TIMS detection limits for direct, electrodeposition, and resin bead source loading techniques were determined by systematically varying the amount of plutonium loaded on the rhenium filament. It has been shown in our preliminary work that the resin bead could produce a stable TIMS ion beam for as long as 6 h period with >>108 Pu atoms loaded onto a single resin bead. (author)