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Improvement in the particle collection method to mitigate the mixing effect during uranium isotope analysis of environmental samples using secondary ion mass spectrometry

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Abstract

We introduce an improved particle collection method for uranium isotopic analysis using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). A new design was applied to a vacuum-suction impactor to promote the dispersibility of collected particles and the air flow rate was adjusted to maximize the particle recovery yield. The improved method remarkably mitigated the ‘mixing effect’. Materials from a nuclear forensic exercise were also employed to evaluate the method applicability. This innovation will be useful to improve the accuracy of SIMS uranium particle analysis, especially for overloaded samples with mixed isotope compositions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Research and Operation Program of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (Grant No. 521350) and the Nuclear Safety Research Program through the Korea Foundation of Nuclear Safety (KOFONS) using the financial resource granted by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) of the Republic of Korea (No. 1405020). The authors would also like to thank Editage (www.editage.co.kr) for the English language review.

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  1. Tae Hee Kim

    Present address: Nuclear Safeguards Division, Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control, 1534, Yuseong-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34054, Republic of Korea

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Safety Assessment Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 111, Daedeok-daero 989-gil, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34057, Republic of Korea

    Tae Hee Kim, Jinkyu Park, Na-Ri Lee & Chi-Gyu Lee

  2. Department of Agronomy and Medicinal Plant Resources, College of Life Sciences, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, 33, Dongjin-ro, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, 52725, Republic of Korea

    Jinkyu Park

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  1. Tae Hee Kim
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  2. Jinkyu Park
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  4. Chi-Gyu Lee
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Contributions

THK contributed to the sample preparation, and data collection. JP contributed to the study design, sample preparation, data collection, and writing the manuscript. NL contributed to the part of data collection and C-GL contributed to the part of study design.

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Correspondence to Jinkyu Park.

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Kim, T.H., Park, J., Lee, NR. et al. Improvement in the particle collection method to mitigate the mixing effect during uranium isotope analysis of environmental samples using secondary ion mass spectrometry. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 326, 1887–1894 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07431-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07431-y

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