ICP-OES based methodology for determination of critical elements in U₃Si₂ dispersive fuel

Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) is one of the most important techniques in determination of trace metallic constituents in nuclear materials due to simultaneous multi-elemental nature, wide linear dynamic range, high sensitivity and low concentration (sub ppm) level determination of most of the analytes. Neutron poison elements like B, Cd, Eu, Sm, Dy and Gd can easily be determined by this technique. The main objective of this work is to determine neutron poisons in U₃Si₂, dispersive fuel material of upgraded Apsara (Apsara-U) research reactor. Hence, a precise as well as sensitive analytical technique is required for determination of these critical elements in U₃Si₂ matrix. The abstract deals with the development of ICP-OES based methodology for the determination B, Cd, Eu, Sm, Dy and Gd. To avoid spectral interference of Uranium, five contacts of TOPO-CCl₄ have been given in order to separate U preferentially leaving behind the critical elements into the aqueous phase