Characterization of aerosols containing fissionable elements using solid-state track recorders

doi:10.1016/0029-554X(77)90458-X

Nuclear Instruments and Methods

Volume 147, Issue 1, 15 November 1977, Pages 83-86

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Abstract

An aerosol of U₃O₈ highly enriched in ²³⁵U was generated with a nebulizer from a suspension of U₃O₈ powder in distilled water. The aerosol was collected on a membrane filter. Polycarbonate plastic, placed in good contact with the filter, was used to record fission tracks when the package was exposed to known fluences of slow neutrons. Fission-track stars associated with individual particles of U₃O₈ were observed in the plastic. The fission-track distributions were converted to a particle-size distribution for the aerosol. For a log normal distribution the geometric mean and standard deviation can be determined with better than 5% accuracy. This method can be applied to plutonium and other transuranic aerosols.

References (3)

B.V. Anderson

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Cited by (1)

Application of secondary ion mass spectrometry to the identification of single particles of uranium and their isotopic measurement
1998, Spectrochimica acta, Part B: Atomic spectroscopy
An instrumental method based on the use of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is presented for the identification of uranium particles, and the determination of their isotopic composition. The particles collected on swipe samples were transferred to a special adhesive support for analysis by SIMS. Charging effects during analysis were avoided by a coating with 20 nm carbon. For the measurements of the isotope ratios a mass resolution of 1000 was sufficient. At this resolution, flat-top peaks were obtained which greatly improve the accuracy of the measurement. A detection limit in the ng/g—pg/g range was obtained by optimizing different instrumental parameters, such as the acquisition time. Blank samples, consisting only of the adhesive support and of swipes collected in an environment where uranium was absent, were employed for the evaluation of the background signals in the mass range 233–240. The level of background was eliminated by applying a voltage offset. From the results obtained on simulated swipe samples containing certified enriched uranium, the approach used was found to be very promising and after further improvements has been applied for the routine analysis of uranium particles in swipe samples.

^☆: Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration.

^☆☆: This paper was read at the 9th International Conference on Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors, Neuherberg/München, September 30 – October 6, 1976. The complete Proceedings will be published by Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York.

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Session 7. Application in earth sciences and radiochemistryCharacterization of aerosols containing fissionable elements using solid-state track recorders☆,☆☆

Abstract

Session 7. Application in earth sciences and radiochemistry
Characterization of aerosols containing fissionable elements using solid-state track recorders☆,☆☆