Atom Probe Tomography Analysis of Plutonium

摘要

Application of state of the art characterizationmethods to plutonium compounds is challenging for manyreasons including its high radioactivity, potential fordispersion, rarity of the material itself, availability ofinstrumentation and expertise, and the ability to prepare asample with the proper characteristics. Atom probetomography (APT) is a relatively new analytical techniquethat produces a three dimensional mass spectrometry-basedreconstruction of a small volume of sample material. Thistechnique has been invaluable for expanding knowledge inother areas of energy, biologic, and geologic sciences, buthas only recently been applied to radioactive materials likenuclear fuels and irradiated components. Scientists atPacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) havesuccessfully applied this technique to various plutoniumcontainingsamples. The analysis of plutonium metal andparticles from the Z9 crib at the Hanford site that arecomposed primarily of plutonium will be discussed. Thiswork represents the first application of APT to Pu.