However, background noise from the environment limits this approach. Doubling the counting time will not help if all this does is double the background noise level. If an element in the sample becomes radioactive, besides the element of interest, the background noise may be too high to determine the desired element at low levels. This noise does not produce wrong results, just high detection limits. The disadvantage to this is the delivery time - waiting for the noise to diminish may take only a few hours or days, but, in some cases, it could take several weeks.
Precision is how close replicate determinations are to each other.
This precision depends upon the background noise level and the concentration of the determined element. Gross errors include wrong sample weight, mathematical mistakes, etc. For trace element determinations, the accuracy and precision of Neutron Activation Analysis cannot be matched. However, for major constitutes another approach should be considered.