Collaborative Study for Certification of Trace Elements in Uranium Ore Concentrate CRMs UCLO-1, UCHI-1, and UPER-1

Trace impurity patterns are important nuclear forensic signatures in uranium ore concentrates (UOCs) and Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) are used to validate the trace analysis methods employed by end users. Herein, we discuss the certification campaign for three new uranium ore concentrate CRMs from the National Research Council Canada: UCLO-1 (DOI: 10.4224/crm.2020.uclo-1), UCHI-1 (DOI: 10.4224/crm.2020.uchi-1), and UPER-1 (DOI: 10.4224/crm.2020.uper-1). This study involved 15 laboratories from 10 countries, using sector-field and (triple) quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to analyze 64 trace element impurities. We discuss the importance of the acids used for sample digestion, the difficulties associated with analyzing samples with a high uranium matrix, as well as observations relating to the data combination and uncertainty evaluation for such a large dataset.

LEBLANC Kelly L.;  NADEAU Kenny;  MEIJA Juris;  YANG Lu;  BABAY Paola Alejandra;  BAVIO Marta A.;  BOOME Carrie;  CHIPLEY Don;  LEGUIZAMON Roxana S. Cristaldo;  DENTON Joanna;  DREW Dana L.;  FERNANDEZ Mauricio A.;  FUGARU Viorel;  GENETTI Victoria;  GONZALEZ Florencia;  INGLIS J.D.;  JOVANOVIC Slobodan;  KEEGAN Elizabeth;  KELL Tara;  KIMURA Yoshiki;  KINMAN William;  KISER S;  LINDVALL Rachel;  LOI Elaine;  MAYER Klaus;  MERCIER J-F;  MILLAR Robert;  NICHOLL Adrian;  ORLOVSKAYA Liana;  RAMELLA José Luis;  SERBAN Andreea Elena;  SHARP Michael A.;  SHI Y;  TOBI Csaba;  VALENZUELA Lautaro;  VARGA Zsolt;  VESTERLUND Anna;  VIRGOLICI M.;  YAMAZAKI Hitoshi;  ZUBILLAGA Erica N.;  EL-JABY Ali;  MESTER Zoltan; 

2022-10-04

SPRINGER

JRC129711

0236-5731 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10967-022-08446-3,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC129711,   

10.1007/s10967-022-08446-3 (online),