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Uranium gained importance with the development of power programs based on nuclear energy. It is an important element in the atomic energy program and used as fuel in nuclear reactors for electricity generation. Uranium is the heaviest naturally occurring element on earth with an atomic number of 92 and well known for its chemical and radiotoxicity. It is a naturally radioactive element; atoms of uranium are unstable and decay by emitting particles and energy. However, uranium decays very slowly by emitting an alpha particle (1). Uranium in different forms and in combination with thorium/plutonium is used as nuclear fuel. From nuclear fuel to reprocessing and disposal, uranium undergoes several transformations within the nuclear fuel cycle, including concentration, purification, isotope enrichment, metallurgical processing, and recovery of precious elements such as Pu (2). Uranium has a line-rich emission spectrum and is expected to interfere during the determination of analytes at the trace levels due to its multi-electronic nature. Spectral interference caused by the line-rich spectrum of actinides, especially uranium, is a well known problem in the determination of trace-metal impurities and rare earths (REEs) in nuclear fuels using atomic emission spectrometric methods. Therefore, it is required to separate the major matrix (i.e., uranium) from the analytes without loss of the analytes even at trace levels. Though physical separation methods can be used, such as the d.c. arc carrier distillation technique, they may increase the chance of contamination during handling and require appreciable time for the analysis of the samples. The relative standard deviation of the d.c. arc carrier distillation technique is poor, about 15–20%. Hence, it necessitates having an ICP-AES-based methodology for the direct determination of trace level rare earth constituents, without using any separation method. Secondly, the determination of impurities in uranium at various stages of the nuclear fuel cycle is important for quality control and achievement of chemical and metallurgical requirements (3). The increased concentration of metallic impurities may alter the metallurgical characteristics of the fuel; for instance, the transition temperature between the different uranium metal phases (4). Therefore, the concentration of the metallic impurities in the fuel must be below the maximum permissible levels specified to obtain the required density for the pellets. The impurities, metallic and nonmetallic, which are incorporated with the fuel during various fuel fabrication procedures, have to be under specified limits for safe and efficient operation of the reactors (5, 6). These materials have to undergo stringent quality control before they can be used in the power generation as fuels. Uraniumand plutonium-based nuclear fuels are required to conform to stringent specifications with regard to the trace metallic constituents, even at sub-ppm levels. Since they have an important bearing on the fuel performance, in particular B, Cd, and Gd, they have a very high neutron absorption cross-section in the quality control of nuclear materials such as uranium samples, which in turn, can affect neutron economy of the reactor fuel (7-8). *Corresponding author. E-mail: mithlesh010757@gmail.com, mithlesh@barc.gov.in Tel: +91-22-25594013 Fax: +91-22-25505151 ABSTRACT

Application of High-Resolution ICP Atomic Emission Spectrometer for Characterization of Radioactive Samples