IMPORTANCE OF TRACE ANALYSIS

Determination of trace elements is important and required for many applications. In nuclear technology, for example, the chemical characterisation of different materials (nuclear fuels, reactor materials, nuclear waste streams etc.) with respect to trace elements is a necessary quality assurance step. Critical trace constituents like boron which has high thermal neutron absorption cross section, need to be determined with the highest possible precision and accuracy for a rigorous quality assurance. Even though there are analytical techniques available for this purpose, but there is enough scope for further improvement in the existing methodology either in terms of extending their applicability or eliminating known limitations. In addition, many of the sophisticated instrumental analytical techniques require matrix matched reference materials for validation and quantification of analytical results. Many times these matrix-matched reference materials are not either available or accessible. The only recourse is to validate the analytical results by as many techniques based on independent theoretical principles as possible.