Determination of uranium in tap water by ICP-MS.
A fast and accurate procedure has been developed for the determination of uranium at microg L(-1) level in tap and mineral water. The method is based on the direct introduction of samples, without any chemical pre-treatment, into an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Uranium was determined at the mass number 238 using Rh as internal standard. The method provides a limit of detection of 2 ng L(-1) and a good repeatability with relative standard deviation values (RSD) about 3% for five independent analyses of samples containing 73 microg L(-1) of uranium. Recovery percentage values found for the determination of uranium in spiked natural samples varied between 91% and 106%. Results obtained are comparable with those found by radiochemical methods for natural samples and of the same order for the certified content of a reference material, thus indicating the accuracy of the ICP-MS procedure without the need of using isotope dilution. A series of mineral and tap waters from different parts of Spain and Morocco were analysed.
Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Valencia, Spain.
M
M
El Himri
A
A
Pastor
M
M
de la Guardia
D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis; D009018:Morocco; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013030:Spain; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*
D008670:Metals; D014501:Uranium