Radiochronological age of a uranium metal sample from an abandoned facility |
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Authors: | Lisa A Meyers Ross W Williams Samuel E Glover Stephen P LaMont Apryll M Stalcup Henry B Spitz |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, 404 Crosley Tower, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA 3. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, L-231, Livermore, CA, 94551, USA 2. Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, University of Cincinnati, 598 Rhodes Hall, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA 4. U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Materials Information Program, 1000 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC, 20585, USA
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Abstract: | A piece of scrap uranium metal bar buried in the dirt floor of an old, abandoned metal rolling mill was analyzed using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (MC-ICP-MS). The mill rolled uranium rods in the 1940 and 1950s. Samples of the contaminated dirt in which the bar was buried were also analyzed. The isotopic composition of uranium in the bar and dirt samples were both the same as natural uranium, though a few samples of dirt also contained recycled uranium; likely a result of contamination with other material rolled at the mill. The time elapsed since the uranium metal bar was last purified can be determined by the in-growth of the isotope 230Th from the decay of 234U, assuming that only uranium isotopes were present in the bar after purification. The age of the metal bar was determined to be 61 years at the time of this analysis and corresponds to a purification date of July 1950 ± 1.5 years. |
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