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

Abstract

Ba-140 is a fission product of U-235 and decays to La-140. Analytical method of uranium in geological and environmental samples was investigated by using La-140 from U-235 and the correction factor of La-140. 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 La-140 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.