Abstract
Here we present the application of a novel analytical approach for high-speed evaluation of burn-up in spent nuclear fuel. This automated online separation–direct analysis method, which simultaneously measures the isotopic compositions and concentrations of Nd, Pu, and U using isotope dilution-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, enables the determination of burnup in as little as 4.5 h per sample with expanded uncertainties as low as 1.2% using as little as 1µg of fuel. We compare the determined burn-up values, sample requirements, and analysis times with an ultra-high precision, in-house developed, methodology which employs multiple analytical techniques to measure the isotopic compositions and concentrations of Nd, Pu, and U yielding burn-up values with expanded uncertainties as low as 0.49% at the 95% confidence level, the lowest reported to date.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 100152 |
| Journal | Talanta Open |
| Volume | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2022 |
Funding
This submission has been authored by a contractor of the U.S. Government under contract No. DE AC05-00OR22725. Accordingly, the U.S. Government retains a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others to do so, for the U.S. Government purposes. This work was sponsored in part by the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (NE-81), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.