Rapid determination of thorium in urine by quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Q-ICP-MS)

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has proven to be an excellent analytical technique with high sensitivity for detecting low levels of long-lived radionuclides, such as thorium. However, the high-sensitivity technique increases the memory effect of thorium. This study developed a rapid, high-throughput, simple method for measuring thorium in urine using quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Q-ICP-MS). Replacing the commonly used hazardous hydrofluoric acid with a rinse solution of 0.025 mol/L oxalic acid and 5% (v/v) nitric acid eliminated the memory effect of thorium. ²³³U was used as internal standard in this study. The limit of detection (LOD) for thorium in this study is 0.77 ng/L, which is comparable to those of reported methods using more sophisticated and expensive sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS). This proposed method can determine thorium concentrations in urine in both occupationally exposed workers and populations that live in areas with high background levels of thorium.