Determination of Pd in Pd recovered by laser-induced photoreduction with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Asai, Shiho; Yomogida, Takumi   ; Saeki, Morihisa*; Oba, Hironori* ; Hanzawa, Yukiko  ; Horita, Takuma ; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro  

Safety evaluation of a radioactive waste repository requires credible activity estimates confirmed by actual measurements. A long-lived radionuclide, Pd, which can be found in radioactive wastes, is one of the difficult-to-measure nuclides and results in a deficit in experimentally determined contents. In this study, a precipitation-based separation method has been developed for the determination of Pd with ICP-MS. The photoreduction induced by laser irradiation at 355 nm provides short-time and one-step recovery of Pd. The proposed method was verified by applying it to a spent nuclear fuel sample. In order to efficiently recover Pd, a natural Pd standard was employed as the Pd carrier. The chemical yield of Pd was about 90% with virtually no impurities, allowing accurate quantification of Pd.