Abstract
The concentration of rare earths and other elements have been determined in the bed sediment samples of Kamafuli estuarine zone in the Bay of Bengal by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). The samples and the standards soil-5, soil-7, coal fly ash and pond sediment were prepared and simultaneously irradiated for short and long time at the TRIGA Mark-II research reactor facility of Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Savar, Dhaka. The maximum thermal neutron flux was of the order of 10(13)n.cm(-2).s(-1). After irradiation the radioactivity of the product nuclides was measured by using a high resolution high purity germanium detector system. Analysis of gamma-ray spectra and quantitative analysis of the elemental concentration were done via the software GANAAS. It has been possible to determine the concentration lever of 27 elements including the rare earths La, Ce, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy and Yb and uranium and thorium.