Isotope ratio analysis of individual sub-micrometer plutonium particles with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Esaka, Fumitaka  ; Magara, Masaaki  ; Suzuki, Daisuke   ; Miyamoto, Yutaka   ; Lee, C. G.; Kimura, Takaumi 

In the present work, an analytical technique by a combination of chemical separation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is developed and applied to isotope ratio analysis of individual sub-micrometer plutonium particles. The ICP-MS results for individual plutonium particles prepared from a standard reference material (NIST SRM-947) indicate that the use of a desolvation system for sample introduction improves the precision of isotope ratios. In addition, the accuracy of the Pu/Pu isotope ratio is much improved, owing to the chemical separation of plutonium and americium. In conclusion, the performance of the proposed ICP-MS technique is sufficient for the analysis of individual plutonium particles.