Development of HCl-free solid-phase extraction combined with ICP-MS/MS for rapid assessment of difficult-to-measure radionuclides Part III: measurement of 79Se concentration in concrete rubble
摘要
In this research, a novel HCl-free chemical separation method was developed for separating Se from concrete matrices, followed by the selective measurement of Se concentration via inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS). 79Se was purified by stepwise chemical separation using anion exchange resin and activated alumina. The separation condition was optimized and evaluated. The chemical recovery of > 85% was achieved. The interferences caused by the 79Br isobar, argon dimers, and sample matrices were effectively eliminated via ICP-MS/MS under optimized conditions. A method limit of detection of 0.1 Bq g−1 was obtained for 79Se present in concrete rubble samples. Thus, the proposed method is reliable and has sufficient sensitivity for measuring 79Se at ultralow concentrations, making it an alternative for conventional radioactivity counting methods.