Evaluation of the LASL automated spectrophotometer for uranium determination at submilligram levels

Abstract

The LASL automated spectrophotometer, designed for determination of 1 to 14 mg of uranium and 0.5 to 14 mg of plutonium, has been evaluated for determination of lower levels of uranium to 0.12 mg. The essentially linear response of absorbance is maintained and the standard deviation for a single measurement is constant at about 0.013 mg of uranium, corresponding to a maximum uncertainty of about 10% at the 0.12-mg limit. The instrument was applied to the analysis of a series of low-levelconcentration, 0.07-to 0.8-mg/m£ uranium samples. The results were not statistically different from those obtained by a manual spectrophotometric method.