Naturally-occurring uranium has three isotopes: 234U, 235U, and 238U. 238U has the highest abundance at 99.3%. On the other hand, due to the uranium enrichment process, enriched uranium contains more 234U than natural uranium. Uranium enrichment is aimed at obtaining 235U; however, the process results in the concentration of the lighter isotopes. Uranium activity in waters is often determined by alpha spectrometry measuring 234U and 238U. Alpha spectrometry requires chemical separation before analysis, making sample preparation difficult and, therefore, increasing the total time per analysis.
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with triple quadrupole technology (ICP-QQQ-MS) is a very powerful analytical technique for the determination of uranium concentrations. It is not uncommon to achieve sub-parts-per-trillion detection limits for total uranium analysis, but more importantly, it is also an alternative to alpha spectrometry for the analysis of uranium isotopes.
Brooks Applied Labs has developed a new method for the determination of very low 234U, 235U, and 238U concentrations in most water samples. The sensitivity of the Agilent 8800 ICP-QQQ-MS, coupled with a front-end preconcentration system, allows us to determine even the lowest abundance isotope (234U at 0.005%) at sub-parts-per-quadrillion levels, corresponding to an activity level far below 1 mBq (0.027 pCi).
Chromatogram for the analysis of a 4 parts-per-quadrillion 234U standard (equivalent to 27 fCi)
Chromatogram for the analysis of 234U in an open-ocean seawater certified reference material
Due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the National Environmental Monitoring Conference (NEMC) will be a virtual event held on-line August 3-21, 2020. NEMC is the largest conference in North America focused on environmental measurements. In your review of the full agenda, you will find that BAL’s Vice President, Annie Carter, will be chairing a session on Metals Analysis and Remediation on August 7th. In addition, BAL’s President/CEO, Michelle Briscoe, will be presenting a talk titled “A Collaborative Approach to Updating EPA Method 3050” (abstract) in the Collaborative Efforts to Improve Environmental Monitoring session on August 12th. Please contact us if you would like to receive a copy of Ms. Briscoe’s presentation following the conference.
In the midst of this global pandemic, we thought you could use a distraction from Zoom meetings and mask wearing. Why not take a moment to complete this short survey for us? This unprecedented situation we are all experiencing requires new approaches to how we do our jobs and meet our clients’ expectations for the essential work that we perform. What should we keep doing? Where should we make adjustments? Will you please take 3 minutes to tell us what you think? This survey literally has only 9 questions and can be anonymous. We are wild about our clients, and we’d love to hear from you!
A recent epidemiological 
Brooks Applied Lab’s own, 
In 1972, the Clean Water Act (CWA) was amended to make it unlawful to discharge any pollutant directly from a point source into navigable waters unless a permit was obtained. Last month, the