Development and comparison of high accuracy thermal ionization methods for uranium isotope ratios determination in nuclear fuel

Alexandre Quemet (1) , A. Ruas , V. Dalier (1) , C. Rivier (1)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)

This study presents the development and the comparison of high accuracy methods for the uranium isotope determination by thermal ionization mass spectrometry. Two methods for uranium minor isotope ratio determination were compared in term of accuracy, analysable quantity, analysis time and versatility the total evaporation and the classical method with multi-dynamic sequences. The mathematical correction of the abundance sensitivity and the detector calibration within the classical method helps decreasing the uncertainties and the biases compared to the total evaporation method. This comparative study was conducted within the framework of the 2017 Nuclear Material Round Robin participation organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Keywords: multi-dynamic sequence; total evaporation method; minor isotope ratio; TIMS

Domains: Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]

Alexandre Quemet, A. Ruas, V. Dalier, C. Rivier. Development and comparison of high accuracy thermal ionization methods for uranium isotope ratios determination in nuclear fuel. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 2019, 438, ⟨10.1016/j.ijms.2019.01.008⟩. ⟨cea-02339918⟩