The application of visible absorption spectroscopy to the analysis of uranium in aqueous solutions

Journal Article · Tue Jul 18 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Talanta

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2017.07.051· OSTI ID:1372801

Colletti, Lisa Michelle ^[1]; Copping, Roy ^[2]; Garduno, Katherine ^[1]; Lujan, Elmer J. W. ^[1]; Mauser, Ava Kerrigan ^[3]; Mechler-Hickson, Alex ^[4]; May, Iain  ^[1]; Reilly, Sean Douglas ^[1]; Rios, Daniel ^[1]; Rowley, John ^[1]; Schroeder, Alex B. ^[5]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); The Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
4. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); The Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
5. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Through assay analysis into an excess of 1 M H₂SO₄ at fixed temperature a technique has been developed for uranium concentration analysis by visible absorption spectroscopy over an assay concentration range of 1.8 – 13.4 mgU/g. Once implemented for a particular spectrophotometer and set of spectroscopic cells this technique promises to provide more rapid results than a classical method such as Davies-Gray (DG) titration analysis. While not as accurate and precise as the DG method, a comparative analysis study reveals that the spectroscopic method can analyze for uranium in well characterized uranyl(VI) solution samples to within 0.3% of the DG results. For unknown uranium solutions in which sample purity is less well defined agreement between the developed spectroscopic method and DG analysis is within 0.5%. The technique can also be used to detect the presence of impurities that impact the colorimetric analysis, as confirmed through the analysis of ruthenium contamination. Finally, extending the technique to other assay solution, 1 M HNO₃, HCl and Na₂CO₃, has also been shown to be viable. As a result, of the four aqueous media the carbonate solution yields the largest molar absorptivity value at the most intensely absorbing band, with the least impact of temperature.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1372801
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1549593
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-17-23195
• Journal Information: Talanta, Vol. 175, Issue C; ISSN 0039-9140
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
uranium concentration analysis
uranyl spectroscopy
visible absorption spectroscopy