Determination of 234U/238U ratio: comparison of multi-collector ICPMS and ICP-QMS for water, hair and nails samples, and comparison with alpha-spectrometry for water samples.
The (234)U/(238)U ratio in water, hair and nails samples was determined by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) and inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS) and by alpha-spectrometry for the water samples only. A correlation of 0.99 was found between the two ICPMS methods and of 0.98 with alpha-spectrometry. The range of activity ratios was between 0.9 and 2.6 according to the MC-ICPMS measurements. The reproducibility of both ICPMS techniques was better than 4% for water samples containing 1 mug l(-1) of uranium and a (234)U/(238)U atom ratio of 54.9 x 10(-6). Sample preparation for the ICPMS consisted of dilution of water samples containing >10 microg l(-1) of uranium and measurement time was approximately 1 min, while alpha-spectrometry involved pre-concentration and separation of the uranium and counting times of 1,000 min.
Karpas
Z
Z
Nuclear Research Center, Negev, P.O. Box 9001, Beer-Sheva 84190, Israel. karpas4@netvision.net.il
Lorber
A
A
Sela
H
H
Paz-Tal
O
O
Hagag
Y
Y
Kurttio
P
P
Salonen
L
L
D001822:Body Burden; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009262:Nails / Q000737:chemistry*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis*; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*
D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D014501:Uranium