Abstract:
Isotope dilution combining with multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry through measuring
235U/
231Pa to determine the age of high enriched uranium(HEU) was studied. The spike of
233Pa was separated from
237Np after twice TTA extraction and back-extraction. The decontamination factor(DF)(Np) in
233Pa exceeds 200. The concentration of
235U and
231Pa was measured by isotope dilution mass spectrometry using spike of
233U and
233Pa which calibrated in-house by the reference material CRM U900, respectively. So the ratio of
235U and
231Pa can be calculated, and HEU age can be obtained. The method was used to determine the age of the reference material CRM U850, and the relative error of results are 1.97%. The method can be used to measure HEU age in nuclear forensics and nuclear safeguard.