XRF References

In This Section

Utility of XRF in field screening

Saint Mary's College students in 2006 recorded spectra at Alameda Point on a site where a removal action had occurred to provide some additional data from an independent source for the community. The students utilized in situ XRF procedures.The field portable XRF instrumentation was developed through support by US EPA Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program. US EPA Method 6200 has been established as a field portable XRF method for site characterization.  General details on the instruments and methodology have been compiled at the US EPA supported website, CLU-IN.org.

Lead quantification using XRF

Field portable XRF instruments are utilized in the lead based paint assessment and remediation work supported by HUD.  A number of manufacturers have developed instruments that fulfill the HUD specifications. 

Lead in other media (soils, plastics, dust wipes, filters) are amendable to this methodology and since it is non-destructive the samples can also be analyzed by more traditional methods, too.

Other elements

Field screening of soils on contaminated sites including Superfund sites is routinely performed with these instruments.  As noted above, U.S. EPA method 6200 was used to routinely characterize sites for various elements.