Determination of microgram amounts of uranium in thorium by differential-pulse polarography

Abstract

A differential-pulse polarographic (DPP) method for the determination of uranium(VI) in the presence of a large excess of thorium without any prior separation of the latter is described. Disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate and sodium carbonate–hydrogencarbonate buffer (pH 10) was used as the supporting electrolyte. The interference of several impurities expected in the Thorex process while processing irradiated thorium was overcome by using the above supporting electrolyte. A relative standard deviation of 2.4% for the determination of uranium at the 5 ppm level was obtained. The uranium(VI) values obtained by the proposed DPP method were compared with those obtained by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.