Measurement of the 231Pa/235U ratio for the age determination of uranium materials

The paper describes the age (production date) determination of uranium reference materials using the ²³¹Pa/²³⁵U ratio. Direct addition of ²³⁷Np in secular equilibrium with its ²³³Pa daughter was chosen instead of the regular milking of ²³⁷Np to avoid possible loss of Pa. Sample preparation consists of a fast, one-step procedure. The developed method using ICP-MS for the measurement of ²³¹Pa is more precise than alpha spectrometry and is applicable for freshly produced low-enriched uranium materials. The measured ages are in good agreement with the reported production dates, thus the ²³¹Pa/²³⁵U chronometer can be applied for validation of ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U in nuclear forensics and safeguards.