Direct spectrophotometry determination of ruthenium in aqueous streams of nuclear reprocessing

A fiber optic aided spectrophotometric technique has been developed for determination of ruthenium in nitric acid medium. The developed method is simple, accurate and applicable to aqueous streams of nuclear reprocessing. The system obeys Lambert-Beer's law at 468 nm in the concentration range of 30-360 µ g/mL of ruthenium. The molar absorption coefficient, detection limit and Sandell's sensitivity are 68.477 L [Mol.sup.-1][cm.sup.-1], 31 µg/mL and 0.0124 µg/[cm.sup.2] respectively. Relative standard deviation was less than 2% and correlation coefficient was 0.9998. The results obtained by the developed procedure are in good agreement with those obtained by the standard ICP-OES method. Fission products like zirconium and strontium are not interfering. Uranium is interfering and needs prior separation by solvent extraction method. The developed method is adaptable for remote operation and on-line monitoring. Keywords Ruthenium * Fiber optic aided spectrophotometry * Nitric acid * Molar absorptivity * Nuclear reprocessing * Solvent extraction