Determination of Ultra-Low Level Plutonium Isotopes in Large Volume Environmental Water Samples

A sensitive analytical method for determination of Pu-239 and Pu-240 in environmental water samples was developed. By co-precipitation of plutonium with Ti (OH)(3) followed by separation of plutonium using extraction chromatography with TEVA resin, a recovery of more than 80% 14 plutonium and a decontamination factor of 1. 3 x10(5) for uranium were achieved. A triple quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ( ICP-MS ) method with dynamic collision/reaction cell was used for measurement of plutonium isotopes. By using NH3-He double gasses as collision/reaction gas, (UH+)-U-238-H-1 ion interference to Pu-239 was significantly suppressed and the final abundance sensitivity of U-238 to m/z =239 was reduced to