AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Chemical Analysis and Imaging Interfaces Focus Topic Friday Sessions
       Session CA+AS+NS+SE+SS-FrM

Paper CA+AS+NS+SE+SS-FrM8
Analysis Of Radioactive Materials In Liquid Using In Situ Sem And Tof-Sims

Friday, October 25, 2019, 10:40 am, Room A226

Session: Novel Applications and Approaches in Interfacial Analysis
Presenter: Jennifer Yao, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Authors: J. Yao, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
X.-Y. Yu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Z.H. Zhu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
E.C. Buck, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Characterization of nuclear materials in solid particles or particles in liquid slurry, particularly in high level waste, can establish the elemental, organic, and isotopic compositions that effect the properties of the materials during nuclear fuel cycle activities and processes. Techniques to evaluate such detailed information, even at small concentrations, can support nuclear materials and science programs by increasing our ability to manage and control nuclear materials. However, radioactive materials analysis in liquids and slurries can be challenging using bulk approaches. We have developed a vacuum compatible microfluidic interface, system for analysis at the liquid vacuum interface (SALVI), to enable surface analysis of liquids and liquid-solid interactions using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). In this work, we illustrate the initial results from the analysis of liquid samples of importance in the geologic disposal of UO2 spent nuclear fuel in a repository environment using in situ liquid SEM and SIMS. Our results demonstrate that multimodal analysis of UO2 materials is possible using SALVI. Both in situ liquid SEM and SIMS can be used as new approaches to analyze radioactive materials in liquid and slurry forms of high level nuclear waste.