Development of a method to measure trace level of uranium and thorium in scintillation films

Abstract

We have established a method to measure picograms-per-gram (pg g${}^{-1}$) levels of ${}^{238}$U and ${}^{232}$Th in scintillation films by combining the dry ashing method and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Trace amounts of ${}^{238}$U and ${}^{232}$Th were measured in up to 2~g of the scintillation film with almost 100% collection efficiency. This paper details the experimental procedure, including the pretreatment of the samples and labware, detection limit of the method, collection efficiencies of ${}^{238}$U and ${}^{232}$Th, and measurement of ${}^{238}$U and ${}^{232}$Th in a polyethylene naphthalate film. This method is also applicable to ${}^{238}$U and ${}^{232}$Th measurements in other low-background organic materials for rare event search experiments.

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