Detection of uranyl fluorides species in support of nuclear safeguards efforts at uranium enrichment facilities is an international analytical challenge.  Quantitative generation of uranyl fluoride samples for methods calibration, standardization and fundamental studies is challenging due to the chemical reactivity of uranyl fluoride species and the radioactivity of the isotopic mixtures  We report a convenient method for the generation of fluorinated uranium species and their subsequent uniform deposition at ultratrace levels on surfaces.  Conditions for uniform, low level depositions are demonstrated for uranium materials all of which can be made volatile by fluorination.   Reproducible depositions with mass between 1.4e-3 ng*cm-2 and 14.1 ng*cm-2 were obtained and the deposition mass quantified by radiometric detection as aided by use of high specific activity isotopes.   The data suggests that the method can be used to achieve uniform depositions at the low femtogram and attogram levels on varied surfaces. The method reported has application to analytical chemistry, nuclear forensics, corrosion science, and other fundamental disciplines.

Uniform deposition of trace and ultratrace levels of uranium  hexafluorides

248th National Meeting (2014)

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