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Recommended Values of 239 Pu, 240 Pu and 239+240 Pu Concentrations in Reference Material IAEA‐315 (Marine Sediment) Estimated by Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry, Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry and Alpha Spectrometry
Author(s) -
Shiaga Taeko,
Aigner Helmuth,
Klose Dilani,
Spinder Peter,
Fröschl Heinz,
Donohue David
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geostandards and geoanalytical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.037
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1751-908X
pISSN - 1639-4488
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-908x.2008.00876.x
Subject(s) - isotope dilution , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , plutonium , mass spectrometry , chemistry , thermal ionization mass spectrometry , radiochemistry , isotope , analytical chemistry (journal) , thermal ionization , plutonium 240 , plutonium 239 , environmental chemistry , chromatography , ionization , physics , nuclear physics , ion , neutron , organic chemistry , fission , electron ionization
The recommended concentrations of 239 Pu, 240 Pu and 239+240 Pu in reference material IAEA‐315 (marine sediment) were estimated by three analytical methods: isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS), isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) and alpha spectrometry. The determination of 239 Pu and 240 Pu ( 239+240 Pu by alpha spectrometry) was carried out with samples from randomly selected bottles using each method. Plutonium‐238 was also measured by alpha spectrometry. A plutonium‐242 reference material was used as a spike for the quantitative analysis. The influence of 242 Pu in the samples was therefore calculated; however, this contribution was less than the range of uncertainty and did not influence the final results. The obtained data were statistically analysed using variance component analysis and paired comparison. The combined standard uncertainties from “method/measurement”, “bottle” and “sub‐sample” were in the order of 3 to 6%. The main contributions to the uncertainty were from the material heterogeneity and from systematic differences between methods. Based on this study with twenty‐seven analyses using 10–14 g sample mass, concentrations of (38 ± 3) Bq kg −1 , (28 ± 3) Bq kg −1 and (66 ± 4) Bq kg −1 are proposed as recommended values for 239 Pu, 240 Pu and 239+240 Pu, respectively, and (9.5 ± 0.4) Bq kg −1 for 238 Pu as an information value in reference material IAEA‐315. In mass concentration units, these amount to (16.4 ± 1.2) ng kg −1 , (3.3 ± 0.4) ng kg −1 and (0.015 ± 0.003) ng kg −1 for 239 Pu, 240 Pu and 238 Pu, respectively. The certified reference materials NIST 4350B and NIST 4354 were also analysed by TIMS for quality assurance of the method used in this study.