Simple and Reliable Analysis of Uranium in Mineralised Rocks, Ores, Beneficiation Products
and Other Diverse Matrices: Application of
Differential Technique in Laser /LED Fluorimetry - A Green Methodology
Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration & Research,
Department of Atomic Energy, India
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This is simple and reliable analysis of uranium in mineralised roks, ores, concentrates and other diverse matrices usingthe application of differential technique in laser-/LED fluorimetry. The proposed work is a unique application of the differential technique to the real samples, tested, evaluated and is applied to a large number of samples of diverse matrices from different on-going uranium projects over a period of more than 20 years in different regional chemical laboratories.The relative standard deviation of the method was 0.3–0.5% in nine replicates for 0.04–3.4% U3O8 in mineralized silicate rock samples and 0.5–0.9% at 18.1, 36.2, 61.2, and 99.6% U3O8 in concentrates and mineralized grab samples. It was found that the precision of the differential technique is within the acceptable‘pure geochemistry’ type of analysis (RSD ∼ 1.0%) in samples containing more than 0.01% uranium and the measurement remains unaffected by the choice of the laser-induced/LED-fluorimeter instrument. The results are in good agreement with the published data and those obtained by conventional fluorimetry and other methods, and of comparable precision to those obtained by titrimetric assay. Application of the differential technique in laser/LED fluorimetry fulflls the basic essential requirements: accuracy and high precision, applicability to diverse sample
matrices for wide applications in the entire nuclear fuel cycle,and simple, rapid, direct, and easy equipment calibration,method standardization and operation, eco-friendly, cost-effective, high sample throughput, comparability, and traceability. It is a self-standardized methodology of measurement
and guarantees the quality of an analytical result.