Preparation and Certification of Uranium Oxide (U3O8) Spectrometric Reference Materials

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes the preparation, provisional certification, and certification of reference materials for the trace element analysis for uranium oxide (U3O8). The reference materials were prepared by the addition of solution pools containing the trace elements to a dry base of high-purity uranium oxide (U3O8) with subsequent mixing, drying, milling, and blending. Provisional certification was accomplished through an interlaboratory program in which four different laboratories analyzed the reference materials by carrier distillation d-c arc emission spectroscopy. The full certification of these reference material requires concordant results by two independent methods of analysis. Newer methods of analysis, such as graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry and inductively-coupled plasma emission spectrometry, unavailable when the last reference material of this type was certified, have figured prominently in the certification of newer reference materials, a project now nearing completion.