| Abstract
| - To exploit oxygen isotopic measurement by SIMS as adiagnostic tool in nuclear forensics, the magnitude andreproducibility of O-isotope instrumental mass discrimination for O-isotope standards in the SIMS laboratory atthe Institute for Transuranium Elements has been evaluated. Tests for matrix-dependent discrimination effects onthree different O-isotope standards with substantiallydifferent matrix compositions have been performed. Theresults were checked by an interlaboratory comparisonof O-isotope discrimination with those obtained in theSIMS laboratory at the Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory on two standards. The results from the twolaboratories are in very good agreement, indicating statistically indistinguishable instrumental mass discrimination factors for 18O/16O ratios on the Cameca 6f and 3f,when the analyses are performed under the experimentalconditions described. The 2σmean uncertainties of thesefactors are in the range of 0.3−0.9%. In accordance withthe tested methodology, O-isotope compositions weremeasured in three particulate uranium oxide samples ofnuclear forensics interest.
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