Ion exchange separation and mass spectrometric analysis of uranium for solutions containing plutonium

An ion exchange technique separates plutonium from uranium using Dowex-1 resin and a methanol--HCl plutonium elutriant. The method is applicable to both trace uranium determination and uranium isotopic distribution analysis by mass spectrometry. Distribution coefficients for plutonium, and elution curves for uranium and plutonium are shown. For uranium analysis the percent relative standard deviation is 0.8 at 120-2400 micrograms uranium per gram plutonium and 5.0 at 5 micrograms uranium per gram plutonium. (auth)