Publications

Nov, 2023

ORNL Report

Commissioning Plan for the Cameca NanoSIMS 50L

In late March of 2017 a Cameca® NanoSIMS 50L was delivered to the Nuclear Security Advanced Technologies (NSAT) group at ORNL. This instrument occupies the cutting edge of Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) technology, and will ultimately solidify the NSAT group’s position at the forefront of the nuclear security research and development community. This document descri…

Nov, 2023

Journal

A NanoSIMS 50 L Investigation into Improving the Precision and Accuracy of the 235U/238U Ratio Determination by Using the Molecular 235U16O and 238U16O Secondary Ions

A NanoSIMS 50 L was used to study the relationship between the 235U/238U atomic and 235U16O/238U16O molecular uranium isotope ratios determined from a variety of uranium compounds (UO2, UO2F2, UO3, UO2(NO3)2·6(H2O), and UF4) and silicates (NIST-610 glass and the Plesovice zircon reference materials, both containing µg/g uranium). Because there is typically a greater abunda…

Nov, 2023

Journal

A preliminary investigation into the use of molecular oxide and hydride secondary ion relationships for improvement of the 236U/238U determination on a NanoSIMS 50L

A NanoSIMS 50L is used to investigate uranium molecular (235U16O, 236U16O, 238U16O, 235U1H, 238U1H, 236U16O1H, and 238U16O1H) and elemental (235U, 236U, and 238U) secondary ion production during sputtering of synthetic UO2 and the NIST-610 standard to determine if: (1) the 236U16O/238U16O molecular oxide ratio performs better than the 236U/238U elemental ratio, and (2) the…

Nov, 2023

Journal

Insights into secondary ion formation during dynamic SIMS analysis: Evidence from sputtering of laboratory synthesized uranium compounds with a high-energy O− primary beam on a NanoSIMS 50L