The Uranium Institute

M. Tayloi, ed.. Uranium and Nuclear Energy Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Symposium held by the Uianium Institute, The Uranium Institute, London, 1993. 

The Environment Management hidusti y Association of Australia (EMIAA), 275 The Poison Center, 314, 318 The Poison Control Center, 312, 316 The Uranium Institute (UI), 266 Thermphos International B.V., 196 THF, 127... 

The Uranium Institute. (1998). Uranium From Mine to Mill. London Author. 

Some of the senior participants included Edward Teller (Lawrence Livermore Laboratory of the University of California), Richard Wilson (Harvard University), Ambassador Richard Kennedy (Washington, D.C.), Chauneey Starr (EPRI), Heniy King Stanford (Former President of the Universities of Miami and Georgia), and Ambassador Gerald Clark (The Uranium Institute of London) who was the only overseas participant. The conference proceedings were published by Plenum Press, New York. 

The Management of Radioactive Waste, The Uranium Institute, London, 1991 J. Rydberg, C. Musika, G. Choppin (Eds.), Principles and Practices of Solvent Extraction, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1992... 

The Management of Radioactive Waste, The Uranium Institute, London, 1991. 

The Institute of Isotopic and Molecular Technology, Cluj-Napoca, performed all the analyses. The routine isotopic analyses were run on a Thomson THN 202D mass spectrometer, with a working precision of 0.3%o. The uranium method was used to release hydrogen from water. All isotopic data are expressed in conventional 5 notation as the permil deviation of D/H ratios with respect to the V-SMOW standard. 

Individual Standard Reference Materials containing 14C, 3H, and some naturally occurring uranium and thorium series radionuclides are available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These include ... 

Some of the methods commonly used for the determination of thorium in biological materials are given in Table 6-1. The colorimetric methods are not capable of isotope-specific determination of thorium isotopes. Alpha spectrometric and neutron activation analysis are useful in the quantification of isotope-specific thorium and thorium-232, respectively, and have better sensitivities than colorimetric methods. Alpha spectrometry is the commonly used isotope-specific analysis for the determination of thorium-232 and the thorium-230 derived from the decay of uranium-238 (Wrenn et al. 1981). Standard reference materials (SRMs) containing thorium in human liver (SRM-4352) and human lung (SRM-4351) necessary for the determination of absolute recovery in a given sample are available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Inn 1987). 

In the spring of 1940 Philip Abelson came to Berkeley for a short vacation. He had been a graduate student in the Radiation Laboratory at the time when fission was announced, and was now at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, where, unknown to McMillan, he had also begun to work on the 2.3-day substance. When McMillan and Abelson discovered their mutual interest, they decided to work together on the problem (51). They soon established the fact that the substance could exist in a reduced and an oxidized state, with valences of four and six, like uranium, which it resembled also in other respects. Using these... 

G. T. Seaborg and E. M. McMillan. The Nobel Prize for Chemistry for 1951 was awarded jointly to Glenn T. Seaborg and Edwin M. McMillan, both of the University of California, for their discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements." Dr. Seaborg is chairman of the Division of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry at the University of California. Dr. McMillan worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in connection with radar development, collaborated with J. Robert Oppenheimer in organizing the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, and did the initial work that led to the discovery of elements heavier than uranium. 

FERMIUM. ICAS 7440-72-4). Chemical element symbol Fm. at. no. 100. at. wt. 257 (mass number of the most stable isotope), radioactive metal of the Actinide series, also one of the Transuranium elements. During Ihe period 1953- 1954. a group of scientists at the Nobel Institute of Physics (Stockholm) bombarded U with l60 ions, producing and isolating a 30-min alpha emitter. Ibis was called -5"l(X). However, discovery of element 100 was noi claimed at that time. Subsequently, the isotope was identified and the 30-miu half-lile conlirmed. Both fermium and einsteinium were formed in a thermonuclear explosion that occurred in the South Pacific in 1952. The elements were identified by scientists from the University of California s Radiation Laboratory, the Argonne National Laboratory, and die Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. It was observed that very heavy uranium isutopes lhal resulted from the action of the instantaneous neutron flux cm uranium (conlaincd in the explosive device) decayed lo form Es and Fm, The probable electronic configuration of... 

Table 2-8 shows the mass equivalents for natural and depleted uranium for radiation levels that caused potential radiological effects in rats exposed once for 100 minutes to airborne 92.8% enriched uranium with an estimated specific activity of 51.6 pCi/g (Morris et al. 1989). These mass equivalent values for natural and depleted uranium for the minimal concentration of radioactivity that is expected to induce potential radiological effects are well above levels that would be expected to be inhaled or ingested. In addition, the mass equivalents for natural and depleted uranium for potential radiological effects are 3,600 and 76,500 times higher, respectively, than the occupational exposure limits (short-term exposure) recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH 1997). Therefore, MRLs for uranium based on studies that used enriched uranium are inappropriate. 

Fuel fabrication. The enriched UFg is either reduced to metallic uranium and machined to the appropriate shape, or oxidized to uranium dioxide and formed into pellets of ceramic uranium dioxide (UO2). The pellets are then stacked and sealed inside metal tubes that are mounted into special fuel assemblies ready for use in a nuclear reactor (DOE 1995b Uranium Institute 1996). 

Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that is present in nearly all rocks and soils it has an average concentration in U.S. soils of about 2 pCi/g (3 ppm) (du Preez 1989 NCRP 1984a). Some parts of the United States, particularly the western portion, exhibit higher than average uranium levels due to natural geological formations. Most uranium ores contain between 0.05 and 0.2% uranium, up to 1,000 times the levels normally found in soil (Uranium Institute 1996). 

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the analytical methods that are available for detecting and/or measuring and monitoring uranium in environmental media and in biological samples. The intent is not to provide an exhaustive list of analytical methods that could be used to detect and quantify uranium. Rather, the intention is to identify well-established methods that are used as the standard methods of analysis. Many of the analytical methods used to detect uranium in environmental samples are the methods approved by federal agencies such as EPA, DOE, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Other methods presented in this chapter are those that are approved by a trade association such as the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) and the American Public Health Association (APHA). Additionally, analytical methods are included that refine previously used methods to lower detection limits, and/or to improve accuracy and precision. 

Uranium Institute. 1996. The nuclear fuel cycle, http //www.uilondon.org/nfc.htm... 

K.P. Louwiier, C. Ronchi, T. Steemers, E. Zamorani, Sol-Gel Process on Plutonium Oxide at the European Institute for Transuranium elements. In Sol-Gel Processes for Uranium Nuclear Fuel, 1968. pp. 97-106... 

Moissan, Henri. (1852-1907). A Native of Paris, Moissan was a professor at the School of Pharmacy from 1886 to 1900 and at the Sorbonne from 1900 to 1907. At the former institution, he first isolated and liquefied fluorine in 1886 by the electrolysis of potassium acid fluoride in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride. His work with fluorine undoubtedly shortened his life as it did that of many other early experimenters in the field of fluorine chemistry. He won great fame by his development of the electric furnace and pioneered its use in the production of calcium carbide, making acetylene production and use commercially feasible in the preparation of pure metals, such as magnesium, chromium, uranium, tungsten etc. and in the production of many new compounds, e.g., silicides, carbides, and refrac-... 

---