Determination of uranium in water by neutron activation and a low energy photon spectrometer

Ground and drinking water samples were analyzed for uranium by neutron activation analysis and a low energy photon spectrometer. Two methods were used: direct irradiation of water and pre-concentration by evaporation. The concentrations varied from 0.1 to 21 μg/l. The lowest detection limit obtained by pre-concentration was 0.01 μg/l while for the direct irradiation of water it was 0.04 μg/l. With these methods, we were able to determine the U concentration in all samples which were submitted for analysis. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.