Simultaneous Determination of Boron and Lithium by Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in Simulated Primary Cooling Water of a Pressurized-water Reactor (PWR)
A. Sarkar, K. Sasibhusan, D. Alamelu and S. K. Aggarwal
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) methodology is reported in this work for the determination of boron (B) at thousands of parts per million and lithium (Li) at a few parts per million levels in simulated primary cooling water. The methodology will be useful for the rapid quantification in real life day-to-day analyses of samples from a pressurized- water reactor (PWR). Calibration curves were obtained by employing high purity solutions of the individual elements using three different calibration models. It was found that the B and Li give best results by different models applications. The usefulness of the model was determined on the basis of regression coefficient and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) values. The limit of detection (LOD) for the LIBS methodology for Li quantification were found to be 0.01 μg/g and 0.06 μg/g for Li(I) 670.790 nm and Li(I) 610.364 nm, respectively.
Keywords: Boron (B), lithium (Li), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), reactor, pressurized-water reactor (PWR)