HASL-300, 28th Edition
Americium in QAP Water and Air Filters-
Eichrom’s TRU Resin
Contact person(s): Anna Berne
Application
The following procedure has been applied to the preparation, separation and analysis of spiked water and air filter samples the alpha-spectrograph. Combined with Procedure Pu-11-RC, this procedure allows for the sequential determination of plutonium and americium. Other researchers have applied TRU Resin methods to other matrices (Horwitz, et al., 1990). The procedure is used in the EML Quality Assessment program (QAP; Sanderson and Greenlaw, 1996).
The water and air filters are equilibrated with 243Am and processed through the plutonium separation steps using ion exchange resin according to Procedure Pu-11-RC. If determination of plutonium is desired, an appropriate plutonium tracer should be added along with the 243Am tracer. The eluate from the ion exchange column containing americium (and all other ions, except plutonium) is evaporated, redissolved, and loaded onto a TRU Resin extraction column. The americium (and curium, if present) is separated and purified on the column and finally stripped with dilute nitric acid stripping solution. Microprecipitation is used to prepare for alpha spectrometry.