• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.102-105
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• 2016

This study explored the feasibility of using a carburization technique to enhance the ion intensity of isotopic analysis of ultra-trace levels of uranium using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). Prior to fixing uranium samples on TIMS filaments, graphite powder suspended in nitric acid was deposited on rhenium filaments. We observed an enhancement of $^{238}U^+$ intensity by a factor of two when carburization was used, and were able to roughly optimize the amount of graphite powder necessary for carburization. The positive shift in heating current when evaporating filaments upon carburization implies that uranium was chemically altered by carburization, when compared to normal fixation processes. The good agreement between our method and known standards down to an ultra-trace level shows that the proposed technique can be applied to isotopic uranium analysis down to abundances of ~10 pg.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권7호
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• pp.1532-1536
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• 2020

For ensuring nuclear safeguards, we report the analytical signal-detection performance of thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) with continuous heating for the measurement of isotopic ratios in samples containing ultra-trace amounts of uranium. As methods for detecting uranium signals, peak-jumping mode using a single detector and static mode using multiple detectors were examined with U100 (10% ²³⁵U-enriched) uranium standard samples in the femtogram-to-picogram range. Uranium isotope ratios, n(²³⁵U)/n(²³⁸U), were measured down to levels of 1 fg and 3 fg in static and peak-jumping modes, respectively, while n(²³⁴U)/n(²³⁸U) and n(²³⁶U)/n(²³⁸U) values were measured down to levels of 100 fg in both modes. In addition, the dependency of the ²³⁸U signal intensity on sample quantity exhibited similar tendencies in both modes. The precisions of the isotope ratios obtained in the static mode over all sample ranges used in this study were overall slightly higher than those obtained in peak-jumping mode. These results indicate that isotope ratio measurements by TIMS with continuous heating are almost independent of the detection method, i.e., peak-jumping mode or static mode, which is characteristic of isotope-ratio measurements using the TIMS method with continuous heating. TIMS with continuous heating is advantageous as it exhibits the properties of multiple detectors within a single detector, and is expected to be used in various fields in addition to ensuring nuclear safeguards.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.17-20
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• 2010

As background significantly affects measurement accuracy and a detection limit in determination of the trace amounts of uranium, it is necessary to minimize the impurities in the filaments used for thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). We have varied the degassing condition such as the heating currents and duration times to reduce the backgrounds from the filaments prepared with zone-refined rhenium tape. The most efficient degassing condition of the heating current and the duration time was determined as 3.5 A and 60 min, respectively. The TIMS measurement combined with the isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) technique showed that the uranium backgrounds were determined to be in a few fg level from blank rhenium filaments. The background minimized filaments were utilized to measure the uranium isotope ratios of a U030 (NIST) standard sample. The excellent agreement of the measurement with the certified isotope ratios showed that the degassing procedure optimized in this study efficiently reduced the impurity signals of uranium from blank rhenium filaments to a negligible level.

• 분석과학
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• 제21권6호
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• pp.487-494
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• 2008

극미량 우라늄시료에 대한 열이온화 질량분석기를 이용하여 우라늄 동위원소 비 측정 및 정량과 관련하여 고순도(zone refined) 레늄필라멘트와 일반 레늄필라멘트로부터 오는 바탕값(background) 특성을 비교하였다. 두 종류 필라멘트에서 가벼운 알칼리금속원소들의 클러스터(cluster)인 $(^{39}K_6)^+$, $(^{39}K_5+^{41}K)^+$ 및 금속산화물($PbO_2$)로 추측되는 우라늄 동중원소영향(isobaric effect)을 확인하였다. 고순도 레늄필라멘트를 < $10^{-7}$ torr에서 약 $2000^{\circ}C$로 1.5 시간 이상 degassing 함으로 불순물들을 완전히 제거할 수 있었으나 일반 레늄필라멘트의 경우 5시간 이상 degassing을 하여도 약 3 pg-U이 남아있었다. 일반 레늄필라멘트에 대한 불순물 제거(degassing) 실험결과 5 A, 30 분이 불순물제거의 최소조건이었다. U-233을 spike로 사용, 동위원소희석 질량분석법으로 일반 레늄필라멘트 중 불순물로 포함된 우라늄 양을 측정한 결과 degassing을 하지 않은 필라멘트에서는 0.31 ng-U이 측정되었고, degassing (5.5 A, 1 hr.)을 한 것은 약 3 pg-U 이 측정되었다. 즉, 일반필라멘트의 경우, degassing을 하더라도 1 ng-U 시료에 대하여 0.3% 오차를 근본적으로 갖는 것을 알 수 있었다. 따라서 환경급 극미량 우라늄시료 측정에는 고순도 필라멘트를 degassing하여 사용해야 함을 알 수 있었다. 우라늄 측정 시 필라멘트 전류를 5.5 A로 하였을 때보다 6.0 A로 했을 때 불순물 우라늄 량이 1.5 배 더 크게 나타났다. 따라서 필라멘트 전류를 5.5 A 이상 올리지 않는 것이 바탕값 영향이 작음을 알 수 있었다. 우라늄 표준물질(KRISS 표준물질/NIST U-005, 030)을 사용하여 우라늄 동위원소 함량을 측정한 후 인증 값과 비교한 결과 U-235 는 0.04%, U-234, U-236는 2% 이내에서 각각 일치하였다.