Multielement determination in water by instrumental neutron activation analysis

INAA technique was applied to a water sample to determine the elemental concentrations. The sample was irradiated with a neutron flux of 1.2x1012 n cm-2 s-1 for two different decay times, using two coaxial type high-resolution Ge(Li) detectors. The dominant elements determined in the water sample are Ca, Cl, Na, Mg and K present in ppm-level, while Co, I, Mn, Sm, and Sb are present in smaller amounts, approx. on the average 0.01 ppm. Only traces of other elements such as the rare-earths Ag, As, Ba, Cu, Cd, Fe, Sr, W, Zn, seem to be present. (author)