Phosphorimetric determination of uranium in water

INTRODUCTION

The presence of uranium in water causes radiological pollution as all uranium radionuclides decay by both alpha and gamma emissions. Chemical aspects of uranium toxicity include mainly nephritis and other renal diseases. Mentioned harmful features affect on humans even in low concentrations thus requiring sensitive analysis methods.

Lumex Instruments developed accurate and sensitive method of phosphorimetric determination of uranium in water using FLUORAT®-02-4M analyzer. The method became the National standard for Uranium in water determination; the benefit of the method is that it doesn’t require expensive instrumentation and tedious sample preparation.

METHOD

To determine uranium in water, the phosphorescence intensity of uranyl-ions (λ=530 nm) excited by ultraviolet radiation is measured.,Sodium polysilicate (pH=8–10) is added to enhance luminescence intensity. Interfering influence caused by luminescence is eliminated by using the special mode of FLUORAT®-02-4M with a time gap between excitation impulse and photons counting.

When phosphorescence intensity is measured the result is displayed as uranium content in water presented in μg/L.

Sample should be preserved by adding concentrated nitric acid; after that sample can be stored for 1 month.