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In this study, a method for selective separation of 63Ni and 55Fe with simultaneous wash-out of 60Co was developed. Purification of 63Ni and 55Fe was carried out using a chelating ion-exchange resin Chelex 100. The elaborated procedure was applied for aqueous and stainless steel matrices. Average recoveries were around 80% for both isotopes, confirmed by ICP-MS and LSC measurements. 60Co, interfering with the isotopes spectra in the same energy range, was washed-out from the system prior to 63Ni and 55Fe separation. The most important advantages over existing methods are short separation time (c.a. 8 h), application of a single chromatographic column and overall simplicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pilot study to quantify 55Fe in steel from a reactor vessel of a nuclear power plant by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) without any chemical sample preparation was validated by liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and AMS after radiochemical separation. AMS reaches an uncertainty < 10% at the 1 kBq gFe−1 level within less than 10 min measuring time. The background was < 3 Bq gFe−1, presently limited by the short measurement time. The new instrumental AMS method for analysing 55Fe from neutron capture production is reasonable and fast compared to other analytical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]