Rapid determination of ultra-trace plutonium in large volume of urine samples by tandem quadrupole inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Rapid bioassay method for plutonium in urine samples are employed to assess the possible internal dose resulting from exposure to plutonium in the event of a radiological and nuclear emergency. In this work, a rapid method for the determination of plutonium isotopes (Pu-239 and Pu-240) in large volume of urine samples was developed using tandem quadrupole ICP-MS combined with a high-efficiency sample introduction system (APEX-Omega). The mixture gases of NH3 and He was employed to effectively eliminate the tailing of U-238 and the uranium hydride ions ((UH+)-U-238-H-1 and (UH2+)-U-238-H-1) and significantly improve the measurement sensitivity of plutonium. The method was validated by analyzing urine samples spiked with known amounts of( )(239)Pu and Pu-240 ranging from 1 to 60 fg. The detection limits for the method were estimated to be 0.83 fg for Pu-239, 0.14 fg for Pu-240 in 1 L of urine.

Automated summary

A rapid bioassay method for plutonium in urine samples was developed using tandem quadrupole ICP-MS combined with a high-efficiency sample introduction system. The method was validated by analyzing urine samples spiked with known amounts of Pu-239 and Pu-240, with detection limits estimated to be 0.83fg for Pu-239 and 0.14fg for Pu-240 in 1L of urine.