Evaluation of a sensitive, reasonable, and fast detection method for ⁵⁵Fe in steel


Evaluation of a sensitive, reasonable, and fast detection method for ⁵⁵Fe in steel

Merchel, S.; Rugel, G.; Lachner, J.; Wallner, A.; Walther, D.; Ziegenrücker, R.

A pilot study to quantify ⁵⁵Fe in steel from a reactor vessel of a nuclear power plant by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) without any chemical sample preparation was validated by liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and AMS after radiochemical separation. AMS reaches an uncertainty <10% at the 1 kBq gFe -1 level within less than 10 min measuring time. The background was <3 Bq gFe -1, presently limited by the short measurement time. The new instrumental AMS method for analysing ⁵⁵Fe from neutron capture production is reasonable and fast compared to other analytical methods.

Keywords: Accelerator mass spectrometry; nuclear decommissioning; nuclear waste; ⁵⁵Fe; radiochemical separation

Related publications

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-32555
Publ.-Id: 32555