The innovative radiochemical methods, substantially advancing existing ones in terms of overall performance for determination of Ca-41, Fe-55, Ni isotopes, Se-79, Pd-107, I-129, Cs-135, Pb-210 and U-236, will be developed. These methods are used and will be applied to address contemporary societal challenges related to safe use of nuclear energy, decommissioning of nuclear facilities, safe radioactive waste disposal, monitoring of radionuclides in environment and around nuclear facilities, nuclear forensics, applications of radionuclides as tracers for marine and geochemical studies, as well as for applications in nuclear medicine.
The main emphasis of the project is on substantially reducing matrix and isobaric interferences for selected radionuclides in samples, relevant to address specific societal challenge, through development of new electrochemical, extraction chromatography and ion exchange separation methods. Improved separation methods are needed to fully capitalize on measurement capabilities of sophisticated mass spectrometric and radiometric instruments. Capabilities of most advanced inductively coupled plasma triple quadrupole mass spectrometers (ICP-QQQ-MS) to remove isobaric interferences for relevant radionuclides will be explored and evaluated. In addition, utilization of multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (MC-ICP-MS) will be tested and compared with ICP-QQQ-MS. For the most demanding applications in terms of sensitivity and precision, methodologies for measurements utilizing acceleration mass spectrometry (AMS) will be developed and validated. All developed methodologies will be compared against traditional radiometric techniques, which will allow preparation of recommendations for optimal methods for selected radionuclides and applications. Finally, new developments will be tested on real applications and samples.