USGS Bulletin 1823

METHODS FOR SAMPLING AND INORGANIC ANALYSIS OF COAL
U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1823

Element	Indicator Radionuclide	Half-life	Preferred g-energy	Limit of Determination ppm(ug/g) except % (cg/g) as indicated	Potential Spectral Interferences
Element	Indicator Radionuclide	Half-life	Preferred g-energy		Radionuclide	Energy	Radionuclide	Energy
Na	²⁴Na	15.0 h	1368.6	10
			2753.9
K	⁴²K	12.4 h	1524.7	0.01%
Sc	⁴⁶Sc	84 d	1120.5	0.01
Cr	⁵¹Cr	27.8 d	320.1	0.5	¹⁷⁷Lu	321.3	¹⁴⁷Nd	319.4
Fe	⁵⁹Fe	45.6 d	1099.3	50	¹⁸²Ta	1289.1
			1291.5	75
Co	⁶⁰Co	5.3 y	1173.2	0.2
			1332.5	0.2
Zn	⁶⁵Zn	245 d	1115.4	1	¹⁶⁰Tb	1115.1
Ga	⁷²Ga	14.1 h	834.1	0.1	⁵⁴Mn	834.8
As	⁷⁶As	26.4 h	559.0	0.1
Se	⁷⁵Se	120.0 d	264.6	0.1	¹⁸²Ta	264.1
Br	⁸²Br	35.4 h	554.3	0.5
			776.5	0.5
Rb	⁸⁶Rb	18.7 d	1076.8	5
Sr	⁸⁵Sr	64.0 d	514.0	50
Zr	⁹⁵Nb	35.1 d	765.8	200	¹⁵²Eu	764.8	¹⁶⁰Tb	765.3
	⁹⁵Zr	65.0 d	756.7	200	¹⁵⁴Eu	756.8
Mo	⁹⁹Mo	66.7 h	140.5	10
Sb	¹²²Sb	67.2 h	564.0	0.05
	¹²⁴Sb	60.0 d	1691.0	.1
Cs	¹³⁴Cs	2.1 y	795.8	0.1
Ba	¹⁰¹Ba	12.0 d	496.3	100	¹⁰³Ru	497.0
La	¹⁴⁰La	40.2 h	1596.6	0.02
			487.0	0.05
Ce	¹⁴¹Ce	32.5 d	145.4	0.5	¹⁵⁴Eu	145.6
Nd	¹⁴⁷Nd	11.1 d	531.0	2
Sm	¹⁵³Sm	46.8 h	103.2	0.5	²³⁹Np	103.7
Eu	¹⁵²Eu	12.7 y	779.1	0.04
			1408.1	0.01
Tb	¹⁶⁰Tb	72.1 d	298.6	0.05	²³³Pa	299.9
			1178.1	0.1
Yb	¹⁷⁵Yb	101.0 h	396 1	0.1	¹⁴⁷Nd	398 2	²³³Pa	398.2
			282.6	0.2
Lu	¹⁷⁷Lu	6.7 d	208.4	0.01	²³⁹Np	209.7
Hf	¹⁸¹Hf	42.5 d	482.2	0.1
			133.1	0.05
Ta	¹⁸²Ta	115.1 d	1221.3	0.02
			1189.2	0.03
W	¹⁸⁷W	24.0 h	479.5	0.1
			685.7	0 1	¹⁴⁷Nd	685 9
Hg	²⁰³Hg	46.6 d	279.2	0.1	⁷⁵Se	279.5
Th	²³³Pa	27.0 d	311.9	0.1
U	²³⁹Np	2.3 d	277.6	0.5