Preliminary LIBS analysis of Yucca Mountain manganese oxide minerals

Abstract

The licensing and performance of a potential repository at Yucca Mountain will require the characterization of radionuclide sorptive capacity of the host rock, which in turn calls for hundreds of analyses based on extensive sampling or in situ measurements. A rapid method specifically for characterizing the manganese oxide minerals occurring heterogeneously throughout the Yucca Mountain block as fracture surface coatings is needed. Our unique solution is a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) surface-analysis technique that is usable in the field to produce high-resolution atomic emission spectra. In tests with manganese oxide minerals and fracture surface coatings from a few Yucca Mountain core samples, we used four spectral bands to show that qualitative measurement of all constituent elements except K and Na (in the presence of Mn) is possible with LIBS. Detailed calibration of final hardware will make the system quantitative