Determination of cadmium and lead in high purity uranium compounds by flame atomic absorption spectrometry with on-line micro-column preconcentration by CL-7301 resin

Abstract

An on-line solid phase micro-column extraction and determination system for trace Cd and Pb in nuclear fuel grade uranium compounds was established. The preconcentration of trace elements Cd and Pb from uranium compounds was achieved by adsorbing Cd and Pb on CL-7301 resin in hydroiodic acid media, while the uranyl ion passed through. The method coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) was applied to analysis trace Cd and Pb in real samples. The preconcentration factors obtained by this method were 320 and 180 each for Cd and Pb, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits corresponding to three times the standard deviation of the blank were found to be 0.13 ng·mL⁻¹ and 0.37 ng·mL⁻¹ for Cd and Pb, respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD) and the recoveries of standard addition (spiked with 1–5 ng of Cd and Pb) were of <5% (n = 10) and 96.2%–102.3%, respectively. Precision was also evaluated and found to be ≤4.3% (N = 11). The proposed method was successfully used for the determination of trace Cd and Pb in commercially available uranium compounds (e.g., uranyl acetate and triuranium octoxide).