Effect of tailing correction on minor isotopic abundances: Large enough to make the major isotope abundance pass or fail in a proficiency test campaign?

For the major isotope abundance measurements of plutonium, uranium, and americium, the total evaporation technique yields data with best precision and accuracy characteristics. However, minor isotope abundance measurements using this technique are biased higher due to peak tailing effects. We investigate whether the tailing corrections at the minor isotopes are large enough to shift the major isotope abundance values outside the ITV-2010 values, which are routinely used as pass/fail criteria in proficiency test programs. Measured data in a plutonium sample, a uranium sample, and a uranium separate (from decay of Pu isotopes) is investigated. LA-UR-22–22,282. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]