MULTIELEMENT ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL-SAMPLES BY COLD AND THERMAL GUIDED NEUTRON-INDUCED PROMPT GAMMA-RAY MEASUREMENT

Non-destructive multi-element determination in environmental samples b y neutron-induced prompt gamma-ray analysis (PGA) has been investigate d. Comparative standardization for the elements including H, B, C, N, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Co, Cd, Sm, Gd, Hg by PGA has been carried out using the cold and thermal guided neutron beams of JRR-3M reactor and then several environmental reference materials h ave been analyzed. Accuracy and precision of better than 20% were foun d for these elemental analyses except for H, C, N and Cl in biological samples. Detection limits in various environmental matrices were 25 t o 820 mu g/g for B, Cd, Sm and Gd, 1.1 to 820 mu g/g for H, Na, S, Cl, K, Ti, Mn, Co and Hg, and 0.031 to 10% for C, N, Mg, Al, Si, P, Ca an d Fe. ?he present method is being applied to environmental studies of post war Persian Gulf together with INAA and ICP-MS.