Laser spectrometry and laser ablation - an ideal solution for the analysis of nuclear materials

Nuclear materials, consisting primarily of actinides and lanthanides, produce a plethora of emission lines from the ICP. This provides an entertaining problem for the analyst applying ICP-AES. Laser ablation ICP-AES (LA-ICP-AES) offers unique advantages for the analysis of nuclear materials as it allows remote analysis of these materials in heavily shielded environments. The use of high resolution spectrometry, when coupled with LA-ICP-AES, simplifies the spectral chaos normally encountered with these materials. This obviates the requirement for analyte separation which standard ICP-AES instrumentation demands. Examples of the analysis of nuclear fuels and materials used in the reprocessing of that fuel will be presented (e.g., the determination of U, La, Y, Ce and Nd in molten salts.). In addition to bulk (or local) chemical composition, it is also possible to extract isotopic information using high resolution LA-ICP-AES (e.g., the determination of 236U for the estimation of open-quotes burn-upclose quotes of 235U in a nuclear reactor). Laser excited atomic fluorescence (LEAFS) has the advantage of high specificity at the expense of instrumental sophistication but provides one solution to the spectral complexity encountered with nuclear materials. The potential of laser ablation coupled to ICP-LEAFS will be discussed and the determination of lanthanides by LA-ICP-LEAFS described