EVALUATION OF METHOD FOR URANIUM DETERMINATION IN WATERS BY ICP-MS

Method validation is an essential component of the measures that a laboratory should implement to allow it to produce reliable analytical data. This article presents the evaluation results of ICP-MS method previously developed for the quantitative determination of uranium in tap waters. The following validation parameters accuracy, trueness, limit of detection and quantification, linearity, and the recovery percentage. Uranium was determined at the mass number 238 using Rhodium as internal standard. The method provides a limit of detection of 2 ng L-1 and a good repeatability. Accuracy of the method was tested with certified reference materials and recoveries of spiked samples waters were acceptable ranged from 91% to 112%. The usefulness of the determination was also compared the results obtained with those found by radiochemical methods for natural samples. Thus indicating the accuracy of the ICP-MS procedure without the need of using isotope dilution. A series of mineral waters, from different parts of Spain and Morocco were analysed.