Studies on analyzing single uranium-bearing particle by FT-TIMS

Isotopic ratio of single uranium-bearing particle in swipe samples was very important for safeguards environmental sampling. For this purpose, an improved FT-TIMS method was developed in this work: (1) Uranium-bearing particles are suspended in the solution of cellulose nitrate commixed with isoamyl acetate, and then spread onto a glass surface, the solution was dried to form a transparent film; (2) After irradiating and etching, uranium-bearing particles can be found and located under microscope. The small part of the film contained one uranium-bearing particle is then cut off and transferred to a filament of TIMS; (3) Isotopic ratio of the particle is determined by TIMS. The problem of particles losing has been avoided in the process of sample preparing, particle locating and transferring. The deviation of the result from the certified value of CRM was less than 5%. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.