Age determination of single plutonium particles after chemical separation
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IAEA safeguards analysts used a Kleindiek MM3A-EM to pick up single plutonium particles a few micrometres across and relocate them for age-dating, one grain at a time.
For nuclear safeguards, the authors date single plutonium particles from the ²⁴¹Pu→²⁴¹Am decay, measuring the Am/Pu ratio by wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometry in the SEM. An MM3A-EM micromanipulator installed in the chamber picks up each few-micrometre particle and relocates it from the sample planchet to a silicon wafer for dissolution and chemical separation, enabling particle-specific isotopic analysis.
