Prediction of gas-phase reactivity of actinide ions using triple quadrupole ICP-MS for fuel debris analysis

Kazama, Hiroyuki  ; Sekio, Yoshihiro  ; Maeda, Koji  ; Koyama, Shinichi  ; Suzuki, Tatsuya*; Konashi, Kenji*; Abe, Chikage*; Nagai, Yasuyoshi*

Triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) is an attractive technique to perform rapid and highly sensitive analysis. The collision/reaction cell (CRC) technology incorporated in ICP-MS/MS is an available option to eliminate isobaric interference, being expected to discriminate actinide nuclides involved in fuel debris. Meanwhile, in order to discriminate against these isobaric interferences using ICP-MS/MS, it is necessary to understand actinide gas-phase reaction behavior associated with the injection of reaction gases into the CRC. In the present work, the actinide molecular ion formations correlating with the excitation energy from the ground state of actinide monoatomic cation to their reactive state (5f6d) were investigated by injection of reaction gases into CRC. The obtained correlations allow us to predict the reaction behaviors towards mutual discrimination of actinide series using ICP-MS/MS.