Synthesis and characterisation of PuPO4 - a potential analytical standard for EPMA actinide quantification

Transmutation nuclear fuels contain weight percentage quantities of actinide elements, including Pu, Am and Np. Because of the complex spectra presented by actinide elements using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), it is necessary to have relatively pure actinide element standards to facilitate ov...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering 2018-01, Vol.304 (1)
Main Authors: Wright, K E, Popa, K, Pöml, P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electron probe microanalysis
Nuclear fuels
Oxidation
Production methods
Transmutation
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Transmutation nuclear fuels contain weight percentage quantities of actinide elements, including Pu, Am and Np. Because of the complex spectra presented by actinide elements using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), it is necessary to have relatively pure actinide element standards to facilitate overlap correction and accurate quantitation. Synthesis of actinide oxide standards is complicated by their multiple oxidation states, which can result in inhomogeneous standards or standards that are not stable at atmospheric conditions. Synthesis of PuP4 results in a specimen that exhibits stable oxidation-reduction chemistry and is sufficiently homogenous to serve as an EPMA standard. This approach shows promise as a method for producing viable actinide standards for microanalysis.
ISSN:1757-8981
1757-899X
DOI:10.1088/1757-899X/304/1/012020