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EP-4399022-B1 - EMBEDDED PRODUCT FOR THE TRANSPORTATION, STORAGE AND/OR HANDLING OF LANTHANIDES OR ACTINIDES AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING

EP4399022B1EP 4399022 B1EP4399022 B1EP 4399022B1EP-4399022-B1

Inventors

  • TÓTH, Kálmán
  • BUJÁK, Renáta
  • EXARCHOU, Vasiliki
  • CARLOS MARQUEZ, RAMON
  • AREGBE, Yetunde

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20220909

Claims (15)

  1. An embedded product suitable for the transportation, storage and/or handling of lanthanides, or actinides, or compounds thereof, wherein the embedded product, relative to the total weight of the embedded product, comprises: - at least 60.0 percent by weight (wt.%) of a matrix material (MA) wherein said matrix material (MA), relative to the total weight of the matrix material (MA), comprises more than 55.0 wt.% of at least one saccharide (S) selected from the group consisting of a mono-, di-, tri-, and tetra-saccharide and - at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof, wherein the molar ratio of the saccharide (S) to the at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof in the embedded product is greater than 1.5.
  2. The embedded product according to claim 1, wherein the saccharide (S) is selected from the group consisting of monosaccharide and disaccharide, preferably is selected from the group consisting of glucose, mannose, fructose and sucrose, more preferably the saccharide (S) is sucrose.
  3. The embedded product according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the amount of the saccharide (S), relative to the total weight of the matrix material, is equal to or more than 60.0 wt.%, preferably equal to or more than 70.0 wt.%, preferably equal to or more than 80.0 wt.%, more preferably equal to or more than 90.0 wt.%, more preferably any additional component different from the saccharide (S) comprised in the matrix material (MA) is present in an amount of at most 1.0 wt.% relative to the total weight of the matrix material.
  4. The embedded product according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the embedded product comprises, relative to the total weight of the embedded product, at least 65.0 wt.%, or at least 70.0 wt.%, or at least 75.0 wt.%, or at least 80.0 wt.% of the matrix material (MA).
  5. The embedded product according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the molar ratio of the saccharide (S) to the at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof in the embedded product is greater than or equal to 1.8, more preferably greater than or equal to 2.0, even more preferably greater than or equal to 4.0.
  6. The embedded product according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the embedded product consists essentially of the matrix material (MA) and the at least one lanthanide, actinide, or a compound thereof.
  7. The embedded product according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein at least one lanthanide is selected from the group consisting of cerium (Ce), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), and terbium (Tb), the at least one actinide is selected from the group consisting of uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu), and the at least one compound is selected from the group consisting of uranyl nitrate, plutonium nitrate, plutonyl nitrate, uranium sulfate, uranyl sulfate, plutonium sulfate, and plutonyl sulfate.
  8. A method for the manufacturing of the embedded product according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the method comprises a step of contacting the matrix material (MA), with the at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof.
  9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the matrix material (MA), and the at least one at one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof, is intimately mixed, thereby forming a first premix, said first premix is then further subjected to an acidification step, and then to a drying step.
  10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first premix is acidified by a solution of nitric acid, preferably by a solution of nitric acid at a concentration of between 1 M and 8 M.
  11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the matrix material (MA) and the at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof are put together in a container, thereby providing a mixture (M), said mixture (M) is then subjected to a heating step.
  12. A method for the determination of the concentration of at least one analyte comprised in a sample (SA) wherein the at least one analyte is selected from the group consisting of at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof, said method comprises spiking the sample (SA) with the embedded material according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
  13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the sample (SA) is selected from the group consisting of environmental field samples originating from environmental swipes, wipes and soil.
  14. The method according to claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof is further analyzed by mass spectrometry.
  15. The method according to claim 14, the at least one lanthanide, or actinide, or a compound thereof is analyzed by Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ID-TIMS).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an embedded product suitable for the transportation, storage and/or handling of lanthanides, or actinides, or a compound thereof. The present invention further relates to a method of manufacturing of said embedded product, and to a method for the determination of an analyte in a sample, wherein the sample is spiked with the embedded product. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Radionuclides and heavy metals or compounds thereof, such as lanthanides, or actinides, or compounds thereof are essentials elements of industry and are extensively used for domestic and technological applications. Their known toxicity nevertheless poses the risk of environmental contamination, and has raised both ecological and global public health concerns. The release of such elements and their use is therefore strongly regulated. To this end, field samples are routinely collected and the presence of such elements is controlled, in particular by quantitative analyses. Such control is typically carried out off-site and may be performed by safety agencies for regulatory purposes. The preservation of said field samples during transportation and storage are therefore of the utmost importance to ensure reliable controls. Furthermore, measures have to be taken for the handling of such elements. This is particularly the case when quantitative analysis is undertaken. Indeed, the quantitative analysis requires stringent procedures in order to determine with high accuracy the unknown composition of samples, especially when the elements to analyze are in traces amounts, as it is generally the case with radionuclides and heavy metals. To this end, measurement laboratories need to implement essential quality controls measures and validated methods. Such quality control measures requires the use of reference materials or certified reference materials, as instrument calibration means or as spikes. Such reference materials or certified reference materials provide a benchmark for measurement laboratories to deliver accurate and comparable results. Reference materials are referred as materials being sufficiently homogeneous and stable with respect to one or more specified properties. According to the International vocabulary of metrology - Basic and general concepts and associated terms (VIM) JCGM 200:2012, certified reference materials are reference materials in the sense that one or more of those properties are characterized by a metrologically valid procedure. They are accompanied with a certificate stating the value of the specified property with its associated uncertainty and a statement of metrological traceability. Reference and certified reference materials have properties that have been established to be fit for their intended use in measurement. Certified reference measurements are a metrological tool for accurate measurements. In general, references materials are manufactured at dedicated sites, which are different from the sites where these materials are analyzed. Therefore, it is also required that these reference materials are preserved during transportation, storage and handling in order to carry out accurate quantitative analyses. Means to transport, store and handle reference materials are known in the art. It is for example known to use a medium for the storage of metallic particles such as notably described by R. Middendorp et AI. (ESARDA Bulletin n° 54, June 2017, p. 25-30). This article discloses that uranium micro particles are suspended into ethanol with the aim to simplify the handling and the storage of said particles. The disadvantage of such ethanol suspensions is their stability over a longer period of time since they are only stable over a period of a few months. Long term stability is important in view of the uprising demand of the market and the scarcity of high purity of metals. It is also known in the art to embed uranium and/or plutonium in polysaccharides having a high degree of polymerization, i.e. large-size polysaccharide-based matrices, such as notably described by R. Jakopič et al. and K.Toth et al.. Jakopi čet al. describes the use of polysaccharide-based matrices such as cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) with a number average molecular weight Mn of 70000 (Preparation and certification of Large-Sized Dried (LSD) spike IRMM-1027o, EUR 25857 EN, 2013), or, alternatively, cellulose acetate butyrate/dioctyl phthalate (CAB/DOP) or carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (Preparation and certification of Large-Sized Dried (LSD) spike IRMM-1027t, EUR 29742 EN, 2019) to embed uranyl nitrate and plutonium nitrate with the aim to provide Large-Sized Dried Spikes, in which said uranium and/or plutonium can be preserved during storage and transport. Similarly, K. Toth et al. describes the use of CAB or CMC in the preparation of LSD spike made of uranyl nitrate and plutonium nitrate (K. Toth, Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 5, 2018, pp.48-51). However, the manufact