Facilities & Laboratories
Analysis of Geologic Media and Water Samples
The Energy and Environment Directorate's facilities include laboratories for conducting radiological ("hot") and non-radiological ("cold") studies. These facilities are equipped with double-HEPA filtered hoods and controlled atmospheric chambers to permit safe handling of hazardous dispersible materials and completion of characterization and retardation studies under inert or anoxic atmospheric conditions, respectively. Below are lists of the analytical capabilities available in these facilities.
The analyses of trace metals, hazardous organic and inorganic species, major cations and anions in water and other solution samples are accomplished using the following capabilities:
- Inductively coupled plasma - mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS)
- Inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES)
- Ion chromatography (IC)
- UV-VIS spectroscopy, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
- Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR)
- High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Determination of the composition and mineralogical content of geologic media, including those containing radioactive contaminants is accomplished using the following capabilities:
- X-ray diffraction (XRD)*
- X-ray fluorescence (XRF)
- Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
- Transmission electron microscope (TEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).
Radioanalytical analysis of alpha, beta, gamma and low-energy x-rays in both liquid and solid samples at activity levels ranging from the low levels found in the environment to the levels found in highly radioactive fuel reprocessing wastes is accomplished using the following capabilities:
- High-purity germanium detectors
- Low-energy photon spectrometer
- Automated multi-sample gamma spectrometer [NaI(Tl)]
- Alpha energy analysis system
- Gas-flow proportional alpha/beta system, and NaI(Tl) detectors.
*The XRD capabilities include expertise and established procedures for quantification of the clay mineralogy in soils and sediments, and JADE phase matching software for identification of measured diffraction patterns by comparison to patterns contained in the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) Powder Diffraction File (PDF).