Application of ICP-DRC-MS to screening test of strontium and plutonium in environmental samples at Fukushima

Abstract

An application of sequential automated SPE separation equipment coupled to the quadrupole-based ICPMS instrumentation with a dynamic reaction cell such as a screening test system of 90Sr and Pu isotopes in environmental samples was developed in this work. So far, during the course of a large number of reports as to various specific radioactivities in environmental samples surveyed at radioactive contaminated area around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants (FDNPP), there is a much smaller number of reports on 90Sr and Pu isotopes than that of 134Cs and 137Cs since the FDNPP accident, and then it would be expected to develop the simple analysis method of these isotopes instead of radiation measurements currently in use. In particular, a screening for 90Sr in environmental samples has been accomplished using an isotopic ratio measurement mode in comparison with the characterization on the Solid Phase Elution (SPE) separation between strontium and zirconium isotopes around the mass-90 fraction. As a result, for a trial analysis of environmental samples of a muddy snow water and a soil which were collected at Fukushima, it was found that the present developed system makes it applicable for achieving up to the specific activity levels of several hundreds Bq/kg (90Sr) and about 1–2Bq/kg (Pu isotopes) as the screening test system.