TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSES OF URANIUM MATERIALS

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has developed an analytical method to measure many trace elements in a variety of uranium materials at the high part-per-billion (ppb) to low part-per-million (ppm) levels using matrix removal and analysis by quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Over 35 elements were measured in uranium oxides, acetate, ore and metal. Replicate analyses of samples did provide precise results. However, none of these materials was certified for trace element content thus no measure of the accuracy could be made. The DOE New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) does provide a Certified Reference Material (CRM 124) that has provisional values for a series of trace elements in uranium oxide. This NBL CRM 124 was purchased and analyzed to determine the accuracy of the method for the analysis of trace elements in uranium oxide. These results are presented and discussed in the following paper.