Fluorimetry compared to spectrophotometry for uranium evaluation in liquid waste

Uranium concentration levels in surface waters are of great importance because uranium presents both chemical and radiological hazard to the environment. The subject of this article is to establish that spectrophotometric method for uranium evaluation in effluents collected from liquid waste treatment generated during fabrication of nuclear fuel elements could be replaced by the optical fluorimetric technique. Both methods are briefly described. The comparison of the two methods was carried out with regard to international standards and national regulations offering from a statistical point of view a useful approach to compare two analytical measurement techniques. This methodology can be applied to any other measurement procedures. A discussion about the compliance of the fluorimetric analytical method with the mandatory discharge level of uranium concentration in surface waters is also presented.