Screening hazardous wastes with a high-resolution portable spectrometer

Soil contamination by hazardous metallic waste is at a level of concern. The application of energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescent (XRF) to the assay of metal-contaminated soil is reported. By means of XRF, two environmental applications methodologies, namely, in situ assay with field portable instruments and intrusive sample analysis with laboratory grade equipment, are currently being pursued and are reported to yield good definition of magnitude and extent of contamination, particularly when coupled with geostatistical sampling methods and data analysis. This application of XRF is presented. 1 tab., 1 fig