Uranium electrodeposition for alpha spectrometric source preparation

Development of reference material for quality control of uranium analysis in marine sediments

Environmental radioactivity monitoring is strengthening due to public concerns over radioactive contamination since the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Therefore, various research laboratories, institutes, and universities have been conducting environmental radioactivity surveys around nuclear power plants (NPPs). However, the reliability of the results continues to trigger controversy in society. This study was conducted to develop reference material (RM) for the quality control of 238U and 234U analyses in marine sediments. The RM was prepared according to ISO Guides 31, 34, and 35. A homogeneity test of the marine sediment RM was implemented by analyzing two batch samples from ten bottles using multiple acid digestion and alkali fusion, respectively. We found that the 238U and 234U reference values of the RM were 43.0 ± 1.7 Bq kg-1(k=1) and 41.5 ± 1.9 Bq kg-1(k=1), respectively. This marine sediment RM will be useful for the quality control of analytical methods for similar samples and proficiency tests.

Uranium isotopes in food and effect on health of Southern Kazakhstan citizens

Natural uranium isotopes were determined in food products of the Kyzylorda region in Kazakhstan. This region is characterised by the influence of the uranium industry, as up to 15% of the world uranium reserves are concentrated in this part of Kazakhstan and the adjacent territory of Kyrgyzstan. The food products most consumed by locals were selected for this survey. Special attention was paid to the analysis of edible and non-edible parts of food products and the assessment of a possible increase in risk due to consumption of non-edible parts. The highest content of uranium, of 80.2 µg/kg, was found in the edible part of the carrot. The highest activity concentrations of uranium isotopes are found in carrot, potato and onion, as edible parts of these vegetables are grown in the soil. All estimated cancer risks for uranium isotopes range from 10^-14 to 10^-12, which are insignificant values.

A new Rule of Thumb to evaluate alpha sources prepared by electro precipitation using X-ray Fluorescence

This report studies the feasibility of using X-ray Fluorescence for the characterization of alpha sources in a short time and proposes a new Rule of Thumb for the sake of simplicity. An uranium deposit of 0.012 ± 0.001 mgcm^-2 which XRF spectrum shows a low intensity U-Lα peak at 13.61 keV, provides good resolution in alpha spectrometry. By this method, long data acquisition times in alpha spectrometry of poorly prepared sources are avoided without the need for expensive equipment.