Preparation of high purity plutonium oxide for radiochemistry instrument calibration standards and working standards

Due to the lack of suitable high level National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable plutonium solution standards from the NIST or commercial vendors, the CST-8 Radiochemistry team at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has prepared instrument calibration standards and working standards from a well-characterized plutonium oxide. All the aliquoting steps were performed gravimetrically. When a {sup 241}Am standardized solution obtained from a commercial vendor was compared to these calibration solutions, the results agreed to within 0.04% for the total alpha activity. The aliquots of the plutonium standard solutions and dilutions were sealed in glass ampules for long term storage

Preconcentration of low levels of americium and plutonium from waste waters by synthetic water-soluble metal-binding polymers with ultrafiltration

A preconcentration approach to assist in the measurement of low levels of americium and plutonium in waste waters has been developed based on the concept of using water-soluble metal-binding polymers in combination with ultrafiltration. The method has been optimized to give over 90% recovery and accountability from actual waste water