Determination+of+Plutonium+and+Americium+from+a+Sediment+Sample

Developed By
Laboratory of Radiochemistry Department of Chemistry University of Helsinki Finland

Learning Goals
Here the learning goals and purpose of the exercise should be presented in a reasonable way.

Theory
239,240 Pu, 238 Pu and 241 Am in the environment originate mainly from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the 1950-1960’s. 241 Am is a daughter nuclide of 241 Pu, and its amount increases constantly in the environment due to decay of the parent.

Extraction chromatography combines efficiency and selectivity of solvent extraction and convenience of chromatographic resin. Water solution is the mobile phase and the stationary phase is organic solvent that is attached to an inert support polymer. Benefits of extraction chromatography compared to ion exchange are smaller waste amounts (acid solutions) and faster analysis.

Eichrom/Triskem's UTEVA resin is designed for separation of uranium and tetravalent actinides. TRU resin is used to separate transuranium nuclides.

Experimental Procedure
Analysis of Sediment Containing Pu and Am

Other
Reporting: Describe in detail the whole separation procedure and explain why each step was made. Draw a separation procedure scheme.

Calculate the chemical yields of Pu and Am separations.

Calculate the activity concentrations of Pu and Am in the sediment and their uncertainties.

Safety Aspects
Here the safety aspects of the exercises should be written. Because of the different rules in different countries this will probably never be correct for every user. It should at least contain HMDS for the chemical compounds used or relevant links to used equipment.

Equipment
Description of the equipment needed and used during the exercises.

Preparation for the lab Supervisor
The preparation that the lab Supervisor needs to do to ready the lab.

Feedback from Users and Supervisors
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