박지영 (한국원자력연구원)

박지영 (한국원자력연구원)

박지영 (한국원자력연구원)

⁹⁹Tc is a long-lived (2.1×10⁵ y), highly mobile pure beta emitter that is an important monitoring target in the management of nuclear-facility-derived radioactive waste and environmental samples; however, conventional radiometric methods require complex chemical separation and long analysis times. ICP-MS/MS (triple quadrupole inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry) has attracted attention as a promising alternative that can achieve highly sensitive and rapid quantification of ⁹⁹Tc by selectively removing isobaric (⁹⁹Ru) and polyatomic interferences through ion–molecule reactions in the reaction cell. In this study, we aim to screen promising ion–molecule reaction candidates for ⁹⁹Tc through theoretical evaluation of thermodynamic feasibility across various reaction gases and reaction pathways, and then to experimentally implement them to assess interference reduction behavior and analytical performance in both mass-shift and on-mass modes. Based on this combined theoretical–experimental approach, we compare the characteristics of different reaction conditions and propose reaction-cell operation strategies for the practical analysis of ⁹⁹Tc in environmental and nuclear samples.