Rapid Determination of Transuranium Radionuclides in Urine Based on Simultaneous-sequential Injection System and Triple-quadrupole ICP-MS with Mass-Shift Mode

A rapid bioassay method for transuranium radionuclides (Np, Pu, Am and Cm) in urine is needed to quickly assess the potential internal contamination in a radiological and nuclear emergency event.In this work, an automated analytical method in combination with the tandem quadrupole inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) and sequential chromatographic separation by TK200 resin and DGA resin was developed.The chemical behaviors of Np and Pu on TK200 resin and those of Am and Cm on DGA resin using the column of 0.4 8 cm were very consistent in 8 mol/L HNO3 + 0.02 mol/L NaNO2 media.The high U decontamination factor of 2.51 10 5 was achieved by using a single TK200 columns.The sensitivity of transuranium radionuclides was improved and the interferences from matrix elements (U, Bi, Pb, Hg and Tl) can be efficiently eliminated in He-O2 mode even if the eluate was directly measured by ICP-MS/MS.The elimination efficiency of 238 U + tailing (<1 10 -9 ) and 238 UHO2 + / 238 UO2 + of <1 10 -7 were achieved using 11.0 mL/min He-0.4 mL/min O2.The detection limits for all transuranium radionuclides were at femtogram level in 50 mL urine sample, and the analytical results for spiked samples showed a good agreement with the expected values, thereby demonstrating its feasibility of the ICP-MS/MS for rapid transuranium radionuclides analysis at femtogram levels in urine.