About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Metallic Fuels - Design, Fabrication, and Characterization
|
| Presentation Title |
An Innovative Technique for Rapid Elemental and Isotopic Characterization of Nuclear Fuels |
| Author(s) |
Ellen Williams, Jonathan C Putman, Andrew Laroche, Jeff Williams |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Ellen Williams |
| Abstract Scope |
Characterization of nuclear fuels involves both isotopic analyses to confirm enrichment levels and compositional analyses to verify elements of interest meet specified limits. Mass spectrometry can analyze nuclear fuels and determine the isotopic ratios of nuclear elements, the elemental composition of metallic elements, and the presence of trace impurity elements. Traditional mass spectrometry techniques require liquid sample introduction for the most accurate results. This involves complex, time-consuming, and resource-intensive sample preparation procedures including acid digestion and dilution.
A new technique combining Laser Ablation Laser Ionization with Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (LALI-TOF-MS) directly analyzes solid or powder nuclear fuel samples. The first laser ablates material from the sample’s surface, eliminating the need to perform acid digestion. The secondary laser then creates ions from the ablated material and the TOF facilitates simultaneous, multi-elemental analysis. This work demonstrates how LALI-TOF-MS accelerates isotopic and elemental analyses of nuclear fuels. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Characterization, Nuclear Materials, |