Quantification of plutonium in nuclear, environmental, and biological samples: A review

• We reviewed analytical strategies to separate, purify, and quantify plutonium. • We described emerging microextraction and cloud point extraction techniques. • We compared the analytical performances of those techniques. • We assessed the simplicity, sustainability, and detection capacity of reviewed techniques. • We described isotopic fingerprinting to trace plutonium origins and behaviors. The measurement of plutonium (Pu) isotopes is a complex and crucial task for nuclear science, energy production, national security, and environmental monitoring. Determining the isotopic fingerprint of plutonium provides valuable insights into the origin and behavior of radioactive materials in various environments. However, this process presents several analytical challenges. The first challenge is to obtain measurable plutonium samples from complex environmental matrices, with methods such as liquid–liquid extraction, chromatography, cloud point extraction, and microextraction offering varying levels of effectiveness. The second challenge is to accurately detect plutonium isotopes, which have diverse radioactive properties, including different decay types, half-lives, and energies, without distorting isotopic signatures. Analytical techniques for plutonium measurement include radiometric methods like alpha spectrometry and liquid scintillation counting, and mass spectrometry methods (such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry), which provide highly sensitive isotope identification. In this review, we examine various pretreatment techniques for sample preparation, explore methods for efficient plutonium extraction, and compare the precision and accuracy of various instrumental approaches in isotopic fingerprinting.