Cadmium study (Cd) as the development of neutron epithermal activation analysis

A cadmium wrap (Cd) study was conducted for the analysis of epithermal neutron activation (ENAA) in the NAA PSTA BATAN laboratory. The analysis was conducted on four samples: volcanic ash of Mount Merapi eruption at 2010, volcanic ash of Mount Kelud eruption at 2014, coal and bottom ash from Paiton steam power plant. This study focused to know the cadmium wrapping agent in the ENAA method and comparing it with the TNAA method for the analysis of Fe, As, Sr, Sc, U and La elements. The element and accuracy analysis were conducted using NIST 1633c and 1632d as Standard Reference Material (SRM). The results of the study show that the ENAA method was very sensitive to analyze elements that have large cross-section values such as As, Sr and U elements. The value of measurement accuracy of As, Sr and U element content by ENAA method were 99.79 %, 93.55 % and 95.84 %, respectively. While the TNAA method was more sensitive to analyze elements that have low cross section value such as Fe, Sc and La elements, which have accuracy value of 90.79 %, 94.94 % and 93.09 % respectively. (author)