Multielemental and isotopic analysis in uranium compounds by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS)

The inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is a powerful technique for multielemental and isotopic analysis having several possible applications within the nuclear fuel cycle. Among these applications the multielemental analysis of impurities and the isotopic analysis of uranium compounds are of great interest. The initial activity carried out in this work was the optimisation of the instrument operational parameters. Then, the analytical figures of merit were determined. Finally, multielemental and isotopic analytical procedures were developed. The experimental results showed that the multielemental analysis complies to the requirements of the standards and might be used to determine the concentration of 42 chemical elements such as: Be, B, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Zr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, W, Pb, Bi, Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ro, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Hf e Th. On the other hand the results of the isotopic analysis showed that the procedure may be used for the characterisation of the nuclear fuel enriched up to 20 %. (author)