Development of a new hyphenated method for ICP-MS

该项目的目的是构建和验证一个结合了电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)和共线共振电离光谱(CRIS)方法的原型，该方法由曼彻斯特大学Isolde CERN开发。用于质谱学的CRIS技术的主要优点是它有效地去除了干扰物种，无论它们是单离子、双原子还是多原子。干扰物种被抑制了7个数量级以上，当与电感耦合等离子体质谱结合时，整个元素周期表的检测下限将从普遍的ng/g范围提高到亚pg/g。质谱学方面的这一创新有可能显著减少与核废物表征相关的成本和时间。这个项目将集中在90锶这一具有挑战性的案例上，目前的分析方法速度慢(每个样品需要20天以上的交货期)，而且成本高昂。随着英国退役核电舰队退役进程的加快，现有方法将无法按比例满足未来的需求。电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS-CRIS)有可能将样品分析时间从几天减少到几分钟。该项目将与NPL和NNL合作，通过构建原型和验证方法来开发技术。我们将与Dounreary Site修复有限公司和M2激光公司合作，进一步开发最终可在现场部署的部队所需的方法和仪器。

The aim of this project is to construct and validate a prototype that combines inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with the collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy (CRIS) method, developed by the University of Manchester at ISOLDE CERN. The key advantage of the CRIS technique for mass spectrometry, is its efficient removal of interference species, whether they are single ions, diatomic or polyatomic in nature. A suppression of interference species by more than 7 orders of magnitude has been demonstrated and when combined with ICP-MS will improve the limit of detection from the range of ng/g to sub pg/g universally across the periodic table. This innovation in mass spectrometry has the potential to significantly reduce the cost and time associated with the characterisation of nuclear waste. This project will focus on the challenging case of 90Sr, where the current analysis methods are slow (over 20 days lead time per sample) and expensive. As the process of decommissioning the retired UK nuclear fleet accelerates, the existing methods will not scale to meet the future demand. ICP-MS-CRIS has the potential to dramatically reduce the sample analysis time from days to minutes. This project will develop the technology by building a prototype and validating the methodology in collaboration with NPL and NNL. We will work in partnership with Dounreary Site Restoration Ltd and M2 Lasers to further develop the method and instrumentation required for a unit that can be eventually deployed in the field.