Rapid isotopic analysis of uranium particles by laser ablation MC-ICP-MS

We present a methodology for characterizing the isotopic composition of uranium (U) in μm-scale particles by laser ablation multicollector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). Analyses were performed using two U particle materials, 235 U-enriched Certified Reference Material (CRM) U200 and depleted uranium (DU) produced by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). The laser was rastered over the sample surface and the signal derived from each individual particle was integrated separately and reduced using a bespoke data reduction package, including application of corrections for instrumental mass bias and ion counter gains. Accurate 234 U/ 238 U, 235 U/ 238 U and 236 U/ 238 U ratios were obtained with percent-level precision in samples with isotopic compositions spanning >2 orders of magnitude, including successfully resolving 234 U and 236 U abundances of