RADIOISOTOPE MASS SPECTROMETRY

Mass spectrometric methods are very sensitive and enable in many cases a multielement determination of trace and ultratrace elements combined with a good isotopic analysis ( Bacon et al. , 2001 ). Therefore, these techniques are also applied for the detection of long-lived radionuclides ( Becker and Dietze, 2000 ) mainly in environmental samples ( Adriaens et al. , 1992 ; Bailey et al. , 1993 ; Bibler et al. , 1998 ; Eroglu et al. , 1998 ; Edmonds et al. , 1998 ; Becker and Dietze, 1999 ; Wendt et al. , 1999 ), nuclear materials ( Betti, 1997 ; Chartier et al. , 1999 ), glass and ceramics ( Rohr et al. , 1994 ; Fukuda and Sayama, 1997 ), and in high-purity substances ( Beer and Heumann, 199…