Particle size and chemical composition are determined by dynamic light scattering, analytical centrifugation, electron microscopy and inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry (ICP - MS), a powerful technique that can measure elements at concentrations as low as several parts per billion.
NFI, for example, uses the specialist laser ablation / inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometer technique, which is still too costly for most forensic science institutes.
Based on this «new» data, Nosé and colleagues found that although hydrogen ion levels in the plasma peaked around 1964 and 1975, the mixture included 7 - 10 % oxygen ions around 1958and 1970, making the
overall plasma mass more than twice as heavy.
Recent developments in analytical tools such as inductively coupled
plasma mass spectroscopy online with high performance liquid chromatography, X-ray fluorescence mapping or quantitative susceptibility mapping with magnetic resonance imaging have enabled outstanding analytic sensitivity and specificity in detecting metal elements in biological fluids and tissues.
The team used a high - tech sorter — an inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometer — that can detect trace amounts of metals to precisely measure the amounts of lead, aluminum, magnesium, iron and other metals in samples scraped from the pipes.
We use inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry (ICP - MS) for metals analysis and several «hyphenated» techniques that couple instruments together for speciation analyses of water, soil and biological tissue samples.
While «the waste's composition would influence the performance of
the plasma mass filter in some ways, the effect would most likely be less than that associated with chemical techniques,» said Gueroult.
Fission products — a small proportion of the waste — can be removed using
a plasma mass filter after each burn cycle.