Application of Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Ultratrace Analysis of Technetium

摘要

This work shows the ability of resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) to determine Tc-99g at the ultratrace level. The characterization of the prepared samples by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and optimization of the RIMS setup for this purpose, as well as the application of the RIMS method to a soil sample, are presented in this article. Tc-97 was used as a tracer isotope to determine the amount of Tc-99g in a soil sample with RIMS. With 8.8 x 10(10) atoms of Tc-97 as the tracer, the concentration of Tc-99g was found to be 1.5 x 10(9) atoms per gram of dried sample material, demonstrating the sensitivity of the method. Furthermore, it could be shown that the Tc-97 solution contained Tc-98 as well. This is the first time that (TC)-T-97,98,99g have been simultaneously measured with RIMS.