Determination of Pu and U isotopes in safeguard swipe sample with extraction chromatographic techniques

A simple and reliable separation method of plutonium and uranium was developed using extraction chromatographic techniques. Using the separation method of plutonium and uranium developed in this study, recoveries of plutonium and uranium were compared with those by commercial separation methods of Pu and U. The redox reactions of hydrogen peroxide with plutonium in a nitric acid medium were investigated by UV–vis–NIR absorption spectroscopic techniques. The separation method of Pu and U isotopes with the UTEVA resin updated in this study could be effective to measure quantitatively nano- and picogram amounts of uranium and plutonium in swipe samples using isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS).