Isotopic analysis of uranium by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

Abstract

There are several advantages of using laser ablation (LA) for nuclear material detection, which includes minimal sample preparation, near-instantaneous detection, and isotope detection. The well-known laser ablation method commonly called Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) has one of the main advantages of optical emission spectroscopy (OES): is noninvasive and near-instantaneous detection and identification of elements in the sample. The detection of special nuclear materials (SNMs), such as uranium and thorium, is of particular interest to many agencies around the world, i.e., International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Chemometrics analysis coupled with LIBS is a suitable combination for the determination of isotope ratios in the air at atmospheric pressure using poorly resolved lines. Typically, the precision will be in the range from 4 to 10% depending on the enrichment level, which is compatible with the use of an alarm instrument in complementary access inspection.