Determination of uranium in zircon

A routine fluorimetric procedure is described for the determination of trace amounts of uranium in zircon. It employs the direct extraction of uranyl nitrate with ethyl acetate using phosphate as a retainer for zirconium. Submicrogram amounts or uranium are separated in the presence of 100,000 times the amount of zirconium. The modified procedure has been worked out using synthetic mixtures of known composition and zircon. Results of analyses have an accuracy of 97–98% of the contained uranium and a standard deviation of less than 2.5%.