Mass spectrometry is currently being implemented in a wide spectrum of research and industrial areas, such as material sciences, cosmo- and geochemistry, biology and medicine, to name just a few. Research and development in nuclear safeguards is closely related to the general field of “Peace Research”; representing a specific application area for analytical sciences in general and for mass spectrometry in particular. According to Albert Einstein “peace cannot be kept by force. It only can be achieved by understanding”. Understanding implies a realistic estimation of potential challenges and threats, which is based on the ability to obtain timely, reliable and independent information. A particular task of nuclear safeguards is reducing threats that are posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons. An important part of the safeguards system is the “analytical laboratory”, with mass spectrometric techniques, such as thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) belonging to the most powerful methods for the analysis of nuclear and environmental inspection samples. Some of the challenging applications of mass spectrometry include isotopic analysis of micro-samples, age determination of nuclear materials as well as identification and quantification of elemental and isotopic signatures of inspection samples in general. This manuscript will discuss merits and limitations of presently available mass spectrometric instrumentation for such applications. It will also highlight the needs for further improvements in TIMS, ICP-MS and SIMS performance aimed at obtaining more specific and significant isotopic information.

BOULYGA S.;  KONEGGER-KAPPEL S.;  RICHTER Stephan;  SANGELY L.; 

2015-06-01

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY

JRC91521

0267-9477,   

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/JA/C4JA00491D#!divAbstract,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC91521,   

10.1039/c4ja00491d,