i.
Add 4 ml of 15% Na,S0, electrolyte solution to the sample and allow to
stand at least 30 minutes,
2.
assemble and leak test the plating cell,
3.
add the sample to the electrodeposition cell,
4.
rinse the beaker with distilled water and add wash to cell filling cell
wa
*
to within 1/4 ineh of the top,
attach the cathode lead to the bottom of the cell.
Anode to cathode
distance should be 5 m,
&.
electrodeposit plutonium at 500 miiliamps for 3 1/2 hours,
7,
at end of the plating period, fill the cell with 4N KOH and continue
plating for 30 seconds,
8.
remove the cathode lead and cell from the rack and discard the solution
carefully washing the cell with distilled water.
This step should be
carried out as quickly as possible to prevent dissolution of the piutonium from the plated disc,
9.
handling the dise by the unplated edge only, wash with distilled water
and dry under infrared lamps for 29-30 minutes,
10.
determine the plutonium activity by alpha pulse-height spectrometry
Counting Equipment
The alpha counting is performed using silicon surface barrier detectors
coupled to a computer based pulse height analysis system.
The detector has a
relative counting efficiency of approximately 20% using a 2425, standard.
MDL for
239
Pu has a range of 7-35 femtocuries.
seconds and all peaks are manually integrated.
L5
The
Samples are counted for 200,000
ie
Electrodeposition Procedure