A MODULAR-TYPE ATOMIC ABSORPTION INSTRUMENT WITH THE GRAPHITE FURNACE IN A GLOVE BOX FOR NUCLEAR APPLICATIONS

Abstract

This article describes a glove box adaptation of an atomic absorption spectrometer with a graphite furnace as the atomization source. Unlike flame atomic absorption, in which the ground state atoms quickly diffuse out of the atom cell, graphite furnace atomic absorption, being a total consumption technique, offers the ability to de-solvate and atomize the entire sample solution in a more controlled environment. This significantly improves the sensitivity and provides superior detection limits with microliter sample volumes. An atomic absorption instrument was converted into separate modular units consisting of the source, atomizer, and detection system. In addition, these units were modified to enable their use in the glove box, allowing the analysis of nuclear samples. Proper optical alignment of the source, atomizer, and detector system was performed to allow the analysis of toxic samples.

Keywords:

• graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry
• nuclear applications

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors wish to thank Dr. A. Goswami, Head, Radiochemistry Division, for his keen interest and encouragement during the course of this work.