I'm an old time radiochemist. My first choice is digestion, separation (Eichrome cartridge) and alpha spectroscopy. If you have that equipment it is good, if you have the ICP-MS it also works.
Spectrophotometric determination of uranium with arsenazo-III in perchloric acid
Muhammad HaleemKhana PeterWarwickb NickEvansbShow morehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.09.060
Abstract
A short, sensitive and reliable spectrophotometric method, which has advantages over all known “wet chemistry” methods for uranium determination with regard to tolerance to common interferences, has been developed for the determination of uranium. Selectivity, molar absorptivity and the determination range of uranium have been enhanced by using 0.07% arsenazo-III as a chromogenic reagent. The use of 3 mol dm−3 perchloric acid as a medium of determination was found to be excellent in terms of good solvent compatibility on dilution, destruction of organic contamination and simplicity of operation. The uranium–arsenazo-III complex formed instantly, and was found to be stable for more than 3 weeks with constant absorbance. Beer’s law was obeyed up to a uranium concentration of 16 μg g−1, with a molar absorptivity at 651 nm of 1.45 × 105 mol−1 dm3 cm −1 at 24 ± 2 °C. Only phosphate and citrate at 70-fold excess over uranium interfere seriously, whereas other anions studied could be tolerated up to a 70-fold excess over uranium. Of the cations studied, only Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Cr(III) decreased the normal absorbance of the complex. Iron(III), Ce(III) and Y(III) enhanced the absorbance. Other cations studied did not affect the absorbance up to a 50-fold excess. The accuracy was checked by determining uranium from standard solutions in the range 10–50 μg g−1. It was found to be accurate with a 96.0–98.6.% recovery rate. The method has been successfully applied to standard reference materials and ore samples at μg g−1 levels.
I'm an old time radiochemist. My first choice is digestion, separation (Eichrome cartridge) and alpha spectroscopy. If you have that equipment it is good, if you have the ICP-MS it also works.
i use tha Alpha spectroscopy because is possible measure all Uranium Radionculides, U-238, U-234 and U-235. Normally after tracers adding is possible sparate Uranium form other radionuclides by Ion-exchange resin, and in second step with the effluents collected by first resin, you can separate the Thorium by Radium and other elents using another ion-exchange resin.
By the way, If correct, i think in ICP-MS U-234 determination is not easy, or possible...but some collegues could confirm it, but is a good method, with high sensibility; the MDA, Minimum Detectable Acitivity, in XRF in my opinioni is very high...and for my goals isn't good.
The good method to measure Uranium and Thorium is fundamental to obtain all information about your sample,in this specific case the equilibrium between 238/234.
At this link you can start to study different method to measure Uranium and Thorium in different kind o sample: