Zr precipitation kinetics in irradiated fuel dissolution solution by TIMS and ICP-MS: a combined study

Sarah Baghdadi (1) , Alexandre Quemet (1) , Eric Esbelin (1) , Yohann Manidren (1) , Sophie Gracia (1) , Vincent Dalier (1) , Rémi Poinsignon-Jacquemin (1) , • Laurent Huyghe (1) , Emilie Buravand (1) , Jean-Luc Dautheribes (1) , Cédric Rivier (1) , Laurent Huyghe (1)

1 DMRC - Département de recherche sur les procédés pour la mine et le recyclage du combustible

This study presents the combined analysis of leftover zirconium in irradiated fuel dissolution solution through time. Thermo-ionisation mass spectrometry was used to analyse the kinetics start and final aliquots with uncertainties lower than 3%, while inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used for intermediary aliquots. In order to obtain low uncertainties using ICP-MS, dissolution solutions were spiked with lutetium, used as a process tracer, in order to perform a relative analysis. The analytical parameters were optimised and uncertainties were lower than 3% for real nuclear samples. This method shows the input of ICP-MS for concentration evolutions determination.

Keywords: Zirconium; Relative analysis; TIMS; ICP-MS; Spike; Irradiated nuclear fuel

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Analytical chemistry

Sarah Baghdadi, Alexandre Quemet, Eric Esbelin, Yohann Manidren, Sophie Gracia, et al.. Zr precipitation kinetics in irradiated fuel dissolution solution by TIMS and ICP-MS: a combined study. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 2017, 314 (3), pp.2377-2382. ⟨10.1007/s10967-017-5602-6⟩. ⟨cea-02267579⟩