Abstract:
The content of
236Pu in the
238Pu product is limited in the range of 2 ppm to protect the workers during the manufacture of the heat source. Therefore, the content must be reduced as much as possible in the production process, and the
236Pu content index must be strictly controlled. The control of plutonium content is an important parameter of plutonium heat source, studied the conditions for accurate measurement of trace
236Pu in irradiated Np target. A separation method for Pu in the solution of irradiated Np target was established. According to the composition of solution, TBP-TEVA double extraction chromatographic column separation was adopted. The plutonium valence was adjusted by FS sulfonic acid and sodium nitrite, and the impurities of Al, Fe, U, Th and Np in the plutonium were decontaminated, the decontamination coefficient was greater than 10
4, and the recovery of plutonium was 90.7%. In this paper, the interference of a large amount of
238Pu on
236Pu was studied, and the results showed that a large amount of
238Pu would cause increasing of the background, and coarsening of the resolution of
238Pu peak and increase the MDA. The MDA of
236Pu is 1.20×10
-2 Bq and the isotope ratios of
n(
236Pu/
238Pu) is 4.63×10
-8, when the
238Pu is 7 500 Bq background interference and measure it for 4.3 h. When the isotope ratios of
n(
236Pu/
238Pu) is more than or equal 4.63×10
-8 in the sample of irradiation Np target, meanwhile sampling the suitable amount can make the
238Pu activity in the electroplating source range from 450-7 500 Bq, then the trace
236Pu can be detected, and the ratios of
n(
236Pu/
238Pu) can be accurately measured. The determination of trace
236Pu in
238Pu heat resource is an important technical indicator in neptunium target irradiation process and product of heat source. In this study, the combined TBP-TEVA resin was used to separate and purify the plutonium from the irradiated neptunium target solution, and the alpha energy spectrum method was used to analyze it.