An energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer that (1) uses as the primary excitation source the power supply and tungsten X-ray tube from a conventional crystal spectrometer (General Electric XRD-6) and (2) uses as the secondary excitation source elemental metal foils that are readily interchangeable has been built and operated. The use of an X-ray tube with a high-voltage capability, 75 kilovolts max, enables the determination of elements with atomic numbers as high as 66 (terbium) to be based on the K series of X-rays; the highpower capability, 3.7 kilowatts max, enables a particularly intense beam of X-rays to be generated by the secondary source and hence, provides a particularly high detection capability for trace elements in a sample. An instrument that uses interchangeable secondary sources to irradiate the samples has several advantages over those instruments in which excitation is accomplished by direct irradiation with an X-ray tube: (1) the background radiation in the energy range where the X-rays of interest are measured is several orders of magnitude lower and is very uniform and (2) the energy of the excitation radiation can be closely matched to the absorption edges of the elements of interest in the sample.

In the application of the instrument, particular emphasis has been placed on the development of tectmiques that will enable an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer to be used as the detection instrument for quantitative elemental analysis. Methods for the determination of the individual rare earths, plutonium and uranium at the microgram level with an accuracy of ± 1% are outlined and for the determination of plutonium and uranium at the milligram level with an accuracy of ± 0.1% are proposed.