Determination of alkali and alkaline earth elements in radioactive waste generated from reprocessing plant by liquid electrode plasma optical emission spectrometry

A simple, practical, and reliable analytical method with liquid electrode plasma optical emission spectrometry (LEP-OES) is developed for determination of Na, K, Ca, Sr, and Ba in radioactive waste. Appropriate emission lines for quantification and interferences from co-existing elements have been investigated. Nitric acid concentration in standards and analyte solution is adjusted to 0.80 mol/L because it affects the emission intensities. The spike and recovery tests using actual sample indicate that sample matrix effect is negligible for those measurements. The obtained data by LEP-OES has matched with data from ORIGEN code and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry within 10% difference. Consequently, the method is successfully applied to real radioactive wastes from reprocessing plant.