Rapid Determination of Plutonium Isotopes in Environmental Samples Using Sequential Injection Extraction Chromatography and Detection by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

This article presents an automated method for the rapid determination of 239Pu and 240Pu in various environmental samples. The analytical method involves the in-line separation of Pu isotopes using extraction chromatography (TEVA) implemented in a sequential injection (SI) network followed by detection of isolated analytes with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

The method has been devised for the determination of Pu isotopes at environmentally relevant concentrations, whereby it has been successfully applied to the analyses of large volumes/amounts of samples, for example, 100−200 g of soil and sediment, 20 g of seaweed, and 200 L of seawater following analyte preconcentration.

The investigation of the separation capability of the assembled SI system revealed that up to 200 g of soil or sediment can be treated using a column containing about 0.70 g of TEVA resin. The analytical results of Pu isotopes in the reference materials showed good agreement with the certified or reference values at the 0.05 significance level.

Chemical yields of Pu ranged from 80 to 105%, and the decontamination factors for uranium, thorium, mercury and lead were all above 104. The duration of the in-line extraction chromatographic run was <1.5 h, and the proposed setup was able to handle up to 20 samples (14 mL each) in a fully automated mode using a single chromatographic column.

The SI manifold is thus suitable for rapid and automated determination of Pu isotopes in environmental risk assessment and emergency preparedness scenarios.