Accurate determination of Curium and Californium isotopic ratios by inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS) in 248Cm samples for transmutation studies

The French Atomic Energy Commission has carried out several experiments including the mini-INCA (INcineration of Actinides) project for the study of minor-actinide transmutation processes in high intensity thermal neutron fluxes, in view of proposing solutions to reduce the radiotoxicity of long-lived nuclear wastes. In this context, a Cm sample enriched in 248Cm (∼97%) was irradiated in thermal neutron flux at the High Flux Reactor (HFR) of the Laue-Langevin Institute (ILL). This work describes a quadrupole ICP-MS (ICP-QMS) analytical procedure for precise and accurate isotopic composition determination of Cm before sample irradiation and of Cm and Cf after sample irradiation. The factors that affect the accuracy and reproducibility of isotopic ratio measurements by ICP-QMS, such as peak centre correction, detector dead time, mass bias, abundance sensitivity and hydrides formation, instrumental background, and memory blank were carefully evaluated and corrected. Uncertainties of the isotopic ratios, taking into account internal precision of isotope ratio measurements, peak tailing, and hydrides’ formations ranged from 0.3% to 1.3%. This uncertainties’ range is quite acceptable for the nuclear data to be used in transmutation studies.

Graphical abstractThis work describes a quadrupole ICP-MS (ICP-QMS) analytical procedure for precise and accurate determination of the isotopic composition of Cm before sample irradiation and of Cm and Cf after sample irradiation.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (89 K)Download as PowerPoint slide