A RAPID METHOD FOR URANIUM ISOTOPE RATIO MEASUREMENT BY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

Uranium isotope ratio U 234/238 can be measured by commercial high-per formance inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with go od precision and accuracy (relative standard deviation RSD < 2%). The method is based on acquiring the data using a peak jump mode and a col lecting signal 10 times longer for low abundance isotopes. Uranium iso tope standards U-005 to U-200 from the National Bureau of Standards (N BS) were used for method development. The optimum uranium concentratio n range for analysis for dissolved samples is from 50 to 200 mu g 1(-1 ).