Multielemental determination in water by neutron activation analysis

Abstract

Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) technique has been applied to a water sample to determine the elemental concentrations. The sample was irradiated at a neutron flux of 1.2·10¹² n·cm⁻²·s⁻¹ for two different periods followed by counting at three different decay times, using two coaxial type high-resolution Ge(Li) detectors. The dominant elements detected in the water sample are Ca, Cl, Na, Mg, and K present in levels while Co, I, Mn, Sm, and Sb are present in smaller amounts approximately on the average 0.01 ppm. Only traces of other elements such as rare-earth elements, Ag, As, Ba, Cu, Cd, Fe, Sr, W, Zn, seem to be present in the water samples.