Chemical, mass spectrometric, spectrochemical, nuclear and radiochemical analysis of nuclear-grade plutonium metal

These analytical procedures are designed to show whether a given material meets the purchaser's specifications as to plutonium content, effective fissile content, and impurity content. The following procedures are described in detail: dissolution procedure; plutonium by controlled-potential coulometry; plutonium by amperometric titration with iron(II); plutonium by ceric sulfate titration method; uranium by Arsenazo I spectrophotometric method; thorium by thorin spectrophotometric method; iron by 1,10-phenanthroline spectrophotometric method; iron by 2,2'-bipyridyl spectrophotometric method; chloride by the thiocyanate spectrophotometric method; fluoride by distillation-spectrophotometric method; nitrogen by distillation-Nessler reagent spectrophotometric method; carbon by the direct combustion-thermal conductivity method; sulfur by distillation-spectrophotometric method; isotopic composition by mass spectrometry; Americium-241 by extraction and gamma counting; Americium-241 by gamma counting; gamma-emitting fission products, uranium, and thorium by gamma-ray spectroscopy; rare earths by copper spark spectrochemical method; tungsten, niobium (columbium) and tantalum by spectrochemical method; sample preparation for spectrographic analysis for trace impurities