Separation of Lanthanide Isotopes from Mixed Fission Product Samples

The measurement of radioactive fission products from nuclear events has important implications for nuclear data production, environmental monitoring, and nuclear forensics. In a previous paper, the authors reported the optimization of an intra-group lanthanide separation using LN extraction resin from Eichrom Technologies(R), Inc. and a nitric acid gradient. In this work, the method was demonstrated for the separation and quantification of multiple short-lived fission product lanthanide isotopes from a fission product sample produced from the thermal irradiation of highly enriched uranium. The separations were performed in parallel in quadruplicate with reproducible results and high decontamination factors for Sm-153, Eu-156, and Tb-161. Based on the results obtained here, the fission yields for Ce-144, Sm-153, Eu-156, and Tb-161 are consistent with published fission yields. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of the separations for the intended application of short-lived lanthanide fission product analysis requiring high decontamination factors.