The discovery of embryonic halos around uranium-rich sites that exhibit very high (238)U/(206)Pb ratios suggests that uranium introduction may have occurred far more recently than previously supposed. The discovery of (210)Po halos derived from uranium daughters, some elliptical in shape, further suggests that uranium-daughter infiltration occurred prior to coalification when the radionuclide t...

Gamma-spectrometric methods suitable for the characterization of highly enriched uranium samples encountered in illicit trafficking of nuclear materials are presented. In particular, procedures for determining the U, U, U, U and U contents and the age of highly enriched uranium are described. Consequently, the total uranium content and isotopic composition can be calculated. For determining the...

Factors affecting uranium removal from brackish groundwater using a direct solar powered ultrafiltration-nanofiltration/reverse osmosis membrane system were investigated during a field trial in the Australian outback. The key variables were uranium speciation (as a function of pH), groundwater type as well as energy variation over the course of a day. It was found that uranium was retained by t...

Radon is a gas with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It’s an active, colorless, odorless, tasteless gas formed from decaying of uranium. It is one of the densest gas, and also a health hazard due to its radioactivity. Uranium is the parent compound from which radon is formed. Uranium has been there since the earth was formed. Thus it will be present for millions of years in the same concentratio...

Based on hyper spectral data mining techniques, field spectra data is used to study the diagnosable spectral signatures of uranium mineralization factors in this paper, and the spectral features of pluton, ore-controlling fault and hydrothermal alteration including alkali metasomatism, hematitization, chloritization and hydromicazation are acquired and analyzed, the diagnosable spectra identifi...

Uranium is well known to induce chemical toxicity in kidneys, but several other target organs, such as central nervous system, could be also affected. Thus in the present study, the effects on sleep-wake cycle and behavior were studied after chronic oral exposure to enriched or depleted uranium. Rats exposed to 4% enriched uranium for 1.5 months through drinking water, accumulated twice as much...

The aim of the study is to better understand where uranium deposits in mice kidneys. The spatial distribution of uranium was examined in the kidneys of C57BL/6 mice using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Mice were exposed to varying levels of uranyl nitrate in their drinking water. Calibration standards were developed to allow for semi-quantitative measur...

Synchrotron X-rays have been used to study the oxidation of uranium and uranium hydride when encapsulated in grout and stored in de-ionised water for 10 months. Periodic synchrotron X-ray tomography and X-ray powder diffraction have allowed measurement and identification of the arising corrosion products and the rates of corrosion. The oxidation rates of the uranium metal and uranium hydride we...

Understanding which organisms are capable of reducing uranium at historically contaminated sites provides crucial information needed to evaluate treatment options and outcomes. One approach is determination of the bacteria which directly respond to uranium addition. In this study, uranium amendments were made to groundwater samples from a site of ongoing biostimulation with acetate. The active ...

Diffusion behaviours of oxygen and uranium were evaluated for bulk and grainboundaries of uranium dioxide using the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. It elucidated that oxygen behaved like liquid in superionic state at high temperatures and migrated on sublattice sites accompanying formation of lattice defects such as Frenkel defects at middle temperatures. Formation energies of Frenkel and S...