Emission spectrochemical analysis of impurities in plutonium dioxide.

A description is given of a method used at the A.A.E.C. Research Establishment for the analysis of impurities in plutonium dioxide. Plutonium is separated from its impurities by adsorption on to anion - exchange resin. The effluent containing the impurities is spectrographically analyzed using a graphite spark technique. Pyrolytic graphite electrodes which are non-porous and do not require sealing are used in preference to the normal greased electrodes which are unsuitable for the analysis of acidic solutions. The plutonium is analyzed for Fe, Al, Mg, Mn, Ni, Cr, Pb, Cd, Co, Ca, Sn, Mo, and Zn using vanadium as internal standard. The overall precision of the method is estimated to be + 20 per cent