Application of iron and aluminum electrodes in spectrograph emission for analyzing boron and cadmium in uranium nuclear fuel

Analysis of boron and cadmium in nuclear fuel was carried out using iron and aluminum electrodes as well as X-ray film photographic for thorax in emission spectrograph. DC arc excitation source could not be used for iron and aluminum electrodes, since both electrodes melt even at current less than 10 ampere and excitation time less than 2 seconds. AC sparks excitation source using iron and aluminum electrodes could be used for analyzing boron and cadmium after extraction of uranium in nuclear fuel using TBP-kerosene solution. Graphite electrode was also utilized to analyze boron and cadmium with ac sparks method for comparison. X-ray film photographic for thorax was used to replace glass photographic film SA-1. Halogens elements could not be analyzed using this method because they needed higher temperature for excitation. Calibration curves for boron and cadmium were prepared for each electrode for quantitative analysis, sensitivity calculation and detection limit. It was found that the sensitivity for cadmium metal using aluminum electrode was higher than that using iron electrode, even with respect to graphite electrode. Limit of detection of cadmium using aluminum electrode was the lowest although its intercept was the highest. On the other hand, limit of detection of boron using graphite electrode was the lowest but its intercept was the highest. (author)