Towards Production of Monodisperse Reference Particles for Nuclear Safeguards Applications

摘要

Certified Reference Materials play an important role in quality assurance and quality control of analytical measurements and are therefore essential for the implementation of analytical techniques. New and highly sensitive mass spectrometric methods like Large-Geometry Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry can perform highly accurate and precise isotopic measurements even of the minor isotopes of uranium and plutonium on single particles with sizes in the micrometer range. Therefore there is a growing need for reference material which meets the specific requirements of particle analysis in nuclear safeguards and nuclear forensics. Ideally, particle reference material provides a certified amount of fissile elements as well as the certified isotopic composition of each individual particle. Additionally, the particles should be consistently homogenous regarding their density, geometry and diameter. Using aerosols generated by a Vibrating Orifice Aerosol Generator as a precursor provides a promising approach for the production of particles suitable as reference material. This paper discusses the basic idea, the functionality, the recent developments and results of an experimental setup for particle generation and issues associated with the overall production process. The complete setup for particle generation is divided into three main stages: aerosol production (1), calcination into solid particles (2) and particle sample collection on an appropriate substrate (3). The main advantage of this production process is the capability to produce monodisperse particles, which offers the possibility to determine the amount of fissile elements and their isotopic ratio per particle. This contribution presents the current developments as well as future plans towards production of the various particle reference materials.