Determination of chlorine, bromine and sodium in fluid inclusions by neutron activation analysis

Abstract

A simple radiochemical procedure has been implemented for neutron activation analysis of fluid inclusions in fluorite. Samples of 100 mg or less are irradiated in a thermal neutron flux of 1 × 10¹⁶ n m^–2 s^–1 before crushing and leaching with NaCl carrier solution. The solution is transferred with a filtered syringe and counted immediately for Na and Cl, and after at least 5 h for Br. The recovery of the carrier is measured by re-irradiation of the sample. The detection limits are <1 µg for Cl and Na, and <10 ng for Br.