DETERMINATION OF THE IMPURITIES Al, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn IN NUCLEAR GRADE URANIUM BY ICPOES

Uranium compounds are specially produced for use in nuclear reactors and must meet strict physical and chemicals specifications. The current study discusses the separation of Al, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn from uranium compounds and their quantitative determination using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. To avoid interference effect caused by uranium in the spectroscopic emission lines of elements of interest, the chromatographic behavior of TBP impregnated macroporous Amberlite XAD-4 column was investigated. The break through curves of uranium obtained showed maximum retention of up to 11 grams of uranium and the elution curves for the elements showed reproducible recovery rate of 90 % on 50 mL elution. Synthetic samples of nuclear grade uranium prepared with the addition of 250 µg/g of U of the above individual elements were used to verify the performance of the method. The method showed a recovery rate of 80 to 90% for the elements under study