Instrumental neutron activation analysis of hafnium in zirconium metal using internal standardization

Instrumental neutron activation analysis with the internal standard correction was applied to determination Hf in high purity Zr metal. Zirconium, which was a matrix element, was used as an internal standard to compensate for inhomogeneity of the neutron flux through an irradiation capsule and to improve the gamma ray measurement uncertainty. It was found that the linearity of the calibration curves of Hf was improved with using an internal standard. The analytical result of Hf in Zr metal was in good agreement with that obtained by ICP-SFMS. The relative expanded uncertainty (k = 2) was 2.1%, and it was comparable to that of ICP-SFMS.