Simultaneous determination of Fe and Ni in uranium matrices by ion interaction chromatography without employing matrix separation

This study reports the separation and quantification of Fe and Ni in uranium based nuclear materials using ion interaction chromatography (IIC) without employing prior separation of uranium matrix. Separation was carried out on a reversed phase column modified into ion interaction surface using camphor sulphonic acid (CSA) and the eluent used was mandelic acid and tartaric acid. A simple gradient procedure was adopted to have elution of transition metal ions prior to the matrix uranium. The method was calibrated over a concentration range of 0.2 to 25 ppm of both Fe and Ni. The LOD for Fe and Ni are calculated as 0.07 ppm and 0.008 ppm respectively. The dissolved uranium sample in nitric acid media was directly injected into the system. The method was validated by analysing two reference materials (ILCE) and successfully applied for real sample analyses. (author)