Evaluation of Treatments to Attain Isotopic Equilibration of Plutonium Preceding the Resin Bead Technique for Mass Spectrometric Assay Analysis of Spent Reactor Fuel

Abstract

Ten chemical treatments are evaluated for the attainment of isotopic equilibration of plutonium prior to its sorption on resin beads for assay of dissolved reactor fuel by isotope-dilution mass spectrometry. The one consistently reliable treatment is reduction to Pu(III) with heated ferrous sulfamate followed by oxidation to Pu(IV) with heated sodium nitrite.