Determination of nickel in standard rocks and glasses by photon activation analysis with 30 MeV bremsstrahlung

A procedure has been developed for the determination of nickel in various silicate matrices by photon activation analysis with a linear electron accelerator. The simultaneous irradiation of the sample and comparative standards produced the 58Ni(γ,n)57Ni reaction, and a postirradiation chemical separation was introduced in conjunction with Ge(Li) gamma-spectrometry. The nickel abundances for the ten standard rocks and two elementally doped glasses are presented and compared with the data previously published. The method is quite simple and gives good reproducible results for nickel down to the sub-ppm levels. (auth.)