Investigation of uranium analysis using 140Ba/140La induced from 235U fission reaction

Abstract

¹⁴⁰Ba is a fission product of ²³⁵U and decays to ¹⁴⁰La. Analytical method of uranium in geological and environmental samples was investigated by using ¹⁴⁰La from ²³⁵U and the correction factor of ¹⁴⁰La. For the method validation, three kinds of NIST SRMs were chosen and irradiated at the HANARO research reactor. The first and second measurements for the detection of ¹⁴⁰La were performed, and the U content in SRM samples can be determined by two different La concentrations. The relative errors are within 10% of U values in the SRM samples. This method is applied for a NIST SRM 1648a-Urban Particulate Matter, which has no certified value. The measured value of U in SRM 1648a is 4.90 ± 0.20 mg/kg.