SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF RHENIUM, OSMIUM AND IRIDIUM IN METEORITIC SAMPLES BY NEUTRON-ACTIVATION ANALYSIS USING SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE RADIOCHEMICAL PROCEDURES

Simple and effective procedures for the determination of Re, Os and Ir by radiochemical neutron activation analysis are presented. Those elements are separated individually by distillation (for Os) and anion exchange techniques (for Re and Ir) for a single specimen. Reproducibilities of the data obtained by the present procedures are evaluated by replicate analyses of the Allende meteorite sample, and are deduced to be 3% for Re, 6% for Os and 4% for Ir (1 sigma). Detection limits for the present procedures are calculated to be 1 ppb for Re, 20 ppb for Os and 5 ppb for Ir. These procedures were applied to Antarctic meteorites and proved to work very effectively for the determination of trace Re, Os and Ir in chondrite meteorites.