Multielement analysis of human hair and kidney stones by instrumental neutron activation analysis with the k0-standardization method

This paper focuses on the evaluation of the k(0) method of instrumental neutron activation analysis in biological materials. The method has been applied in multielement analysis of human hair standard reference materials from IAEA, No. 085, No. 086 and from NIES (National Institute for Environmental Sciences) No. 5. Hair samples from people resident in different parts of Malaysia, in addition to a sample from Japan, were analyzed. In addition, human kidney stones from members of the Malaysian population have been analyzed for minor and trace elements. More than 25 elements have been determined. The samples were irradiated in the rotary rack (Lazy Susan) at the TRIGA Mark II reactor of the Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology and Research (MINT). The accuracy of the method was ascertained by analysis of other reference materials, including 1573 tomato leaves and 1572 citrus leaves. In this method the deviation of the 1/E1+alpha epithermal neutron flux distribution from the 1/E law (P/T ratio) for true coincidence effects of the gamma-ray cascade and the HPGe detector efficiency were determined and corrected for. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.