Interference study of U and Na on lanthanum emission lines for evaluation of their analytical utility on ICP-AES system

ICP-AES System offers advantages of multielemental analysis of many liquid samples over other analytical methods. High level liquid radioactive waste (HLW) contains rare earth elements as major fission product. The high level waste is mixed with glass forming additives and vitrified in Inconel process melter at WIP, Tarapur. The vitrification process in the melter constitutes evaporation, calcination and fusion. The fusion and pouring temperatures are governed by the waste composition and its loading apart from the composition of glass forming additives. Rare earths plays an important role in the waste loading during its vitrification, since high concentration of some of the rare earth can create diversification problem in the vitrified waste product (VWP). Hence the analysis of rare earth elements in HLW is very much necessary. In HLW, concentrations of U and Na are very high compared to other elements. During elemental analysis of HLW using ICP-AES system, high concentration of U and Na may interfere with the analysis of other elements