Application of on-line HPLC-ICP-MS for the determination of the nuclide abundances of lanthanides produced via spallation reactions in an irradiated tantalum target of a spallation neutron source

An analytical procedure has been developed for the determination of spallation nuclides in an irradiated tantalum target using HPLC coupled on-line to ICP-MS after dissolution and separation of the tantalum matrix. Pieces of tantalum were taken from different locations of the irradiated tantalum target which had been used as the target material in a spallation neutron source. Tantalum was dissolved in a HNO₃/HF mixture and the tantalum matrix was separated by liquid-liquid extraction so that only the spallation nuclides were left in the sample solutions. The major fraction of the spallation nuclides in the tantalum target are lanthanide metals in the μg g^–1 concentration range determined in the present study. Additional reaction products are formed by the irradiation of trace impurities in the original tantalum target. The nuclide abundances of the lanthanide metals measured in the tantalum target differ significantly from the natural isotopic composition so that a lot of isobaric interferences of long-lived radionuclides and stable isotopes in the mass spectrum are to be expected. Therefore, all the lanthanide metals had to be separated chemically prior to their mass spectrometric determination. The separation of all rare earth elements was performed by ion chromatography on-line to ICP-MS. The nuclide abundances of each lanthanide were determined using a sensitive double-focusing sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. The nuclide abundances of the lanthanides in the irradiated tantalum target calculated theoretically and the experimental results obtained by on-line HPLC-ICP-MS proved to be in good agreement.