Determination of yttrium, scandium and other rare earth elements in uranium-rich geological materials by ICP–AES

A rapid method is described for the determination of yttrium, scandium, and other rare earth elements (REEs) in uranium-rich geological samples (containing more than 0.1% U) and in pitch blende type of samples by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP–AES) after separation of uranium by selective precipitation of the analytes as hydroxides using H 2O 2/NaOH in the presence of iron as carrier. Uranium goes into solution as soluble peruranate complex. The precipitated rare earth hydroxides (including Y and Sc) are filtered and dissolved in hydrochloric acid prior to their aspiration into plasma for their individual estimation after selecting interference free REE emission lines. The method has also been applied to some international reference standards like SY-2 and SY-3 (by doping a known amount of uranium) along with one in-house pitch blende sample and the REE values were found to be in agreement with the most usable values, offering an R.S.D. of 1–8.8% for all the REEs', Y and Sc. The method compared well, with the well- established cation exchange separation procedure.