Measurement of the isotopic abundance of boron-10 by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry

This article describes the method for measuring the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B in nuclear grade boron carbide using inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS). The results of investigation revealed that both the integration time and the dwell time have a major influence on the reproducibility of ICP-QMS measurements. As a result of optimization of the measurement conditions, reproducibility below 0.2% relative standard deviation (RSD) (0.17% RSD maximum) was achieved. In addition, the measured value of the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B for each sample well agreed with the values measured by the TIMS. Thus, the method described in the present investigation was very effective in the analysis of isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B in B₄C or H₃BO₃. The results of this study suggest that ICP-QMS could be applied to the precise analysis of the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B required in the field of nuclear applications.     

电感耦合等离子体四极杆质谱中碰撞反应池技术发展概述

本文对碰撞反应池技术的发展历史和ICP-QMS主要供应商的技术路线演化进行了概述。碰撞反应池技术从1989年引入到1997年出现第一款带碰撞反应池的商用仪器,再经过十五年的发展呈现百花齐放的技术路线格局。至今,碰撞反应池技术已经成为ICP-QMS消除质谱干扰最有效的工具并获得了广泛的应用,该技术也势必会不断推出创新。     

Determination of 79Se and 135Cs in Spent Nuclear Fuel for Inventory Estimation of High-Level Radioactive Wastes

⁷⁹Se and ¹³⁵Cs are long-lived fission products and are found in high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The estimation of their inventories in HLW is essential for the safety assessment of geological disposal, owing to their mobility in the strata. In this study, the amounts of ⁷⁹Se and ¹³⁵Cs in a spent nuclear fuel solution were measured. About 5 g of irradiated UO₂ fuel discharged from a commercial Japanese pressurized water reactor (PWR) with a burn-up of 44.9 GWd/t was sampled and dissolved with 50mL of 4M nitric acid in a hot cell for 2 h. After Se and Cs were chemically separated, the amounts of ⁷⁹Se and ¹³⁵Cs in the spent nuclear fuel solution were measured by inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS). The amounts of ⁷⁹Se and 135Cs were 5:2 ± 1:5 and 447 ± 40 g/MTU, respectively. The results presented in this study, which are the first postirradiation experimental data in Japan, showed good agreement with those obtained by the ORIGEN2 code using the data library of JENDL-3.3.     

Golden and Silver–Golden Chitosan Hydrogels and Fabrics Modified with Golden Chitosan Hydrogels

Golden and silver–golden chitosan hydrogels and hydrogel-modified textiles of potential biomedical applications are investigated in this work. The hydrogels are formed by reactions of chitosan with HAuCl₄·xH₂O. For above the critical concentration of chitosan (c*), chitosan–Au hydrogels were prepared. For chitosan concentrations lower than c*, chitosan–Au nano- and microgels were formed. To characterise chitosan–Au structures, sol–gel analysis, UV–Vis spectrophotometry and dynamic light scattering were performed. Au concentration in the hydrogels was determined by the flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Colloidal chitosan–Au solutions were used for the modification of fabrics. The Au content in the modified fabrics was quantified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersion X-ray spectrometer was used to analyse the samples. Reflectance spectrophotometry was applied to examine the colour of the fabrics. The formation of chitosan–Au–Ag hydrogels by the competitive reaction of Au and Ag ions with the chitosan macromolecules is reported.