Comparison of relative INAA and k0-INAA using soil and sediment reference materials

The objective of this work was to compare the results obtained by the relative INAA and k0-INAA methods for the same input parameters (sample mass, nuclear data, net peak area for the same gamma line and the same measurement and same cooling and measurement times). In total eight environmental soil and sediment reference materials (RM) or certified reference materials (CRM) from different producers were analysed. In this work only the recommended or certified values were considered, allowing comparison of the two methods for 30 elements. The results point out that k0-INAA possesses superior qualities compared to relative INAA, being insensitive to flux gradients, and independent of recommended/certified values in RMs/CRMs, often used as standards in relative INAA.