Environmental detection of trace isotopes U and U are important forensic signatures for identifying uranium ore materials or tracking anthropogenic releases from weapons fallout or nuclear reprocessing. Currently, Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is the only method sensitive enough to detect signatures of U/U and U/U at the natural level due to the molecular interferences of ThH and UH, respectively, often present in conventional mass spectrometry. In this work, we detail the AMS capabilities of actinides developed at the University of Notre Dame’s Nuclear Science Laboratory (NSL). For the first time in our laboratory, we have measured isotopic ratios of U/U and explored additional signatures of U and decay chain products Pa and Th in both natural ore material and two National Bureau of Standards samples. In this work we estimate a system sensitivity for U/U of and characterize the simultaneous detection of U, Pa, and Th.

中文翻译：

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使用加速器质谱法对富铀材料进行多同位素测定

痕量同位素 U 和 U 的环境检测是识别铀矿石材料或跟踪武器放射性尘埃或核后处理造成的人为释放的重要法医特征。目前，由于传统质谱分析中经常存在的 ThH 和 UH 分子干扰，加速器质谱 (AMS) 是唯一足够灵敏地检测天然水平的 U/U 和 U/U 特征的方法。在这项工作中，我们详细介绍了圣母大学核科学实验室 (NSL) 开发的锕系元素的 AMS 功能。我们的实验室首次测量了 U/U 的同位素比，并探索了天然矿石材料和两个国家标准局样品中 U 和衰变链产物 Pa 和 Th 的其他特征。在这项工作中，我们估计了 U/U 的系统灵敏度，并表征了 U、Pa 和 Th 的同时检测。