Uranium environmental aspects

Uranium—Environmental aspects. Fluoride—Environmental aspects. 

Daxon E (2001) Activities in the United States of America, expert meeting on depleted uranium in Kosovo radiation protection, public health and environmental aspects . Bad Honnef, Germany, June 19-22... 

Accurate uranium analysis, particularly for isotope measurements, is essential in many fields, including environmental studies, geology, hydrogeology, the nuclear industry, health physics, and homeland security. Nevertheless, only a few scientific books are dedicated to uranium in general and analytical chemistry aspects in particular. Analytical Chemistry of Uranium Environmental, Forensic, Nuclear, and Toxicological Applications covers the fascinating advances in the field of analytical chemistry of uranium. 

I thank Dr. Frank Winde for his astute comments on the environmental aspects of uranium determination (Chapter 3). I am grateful to Dr. Ludwik Halicz, who introduced me to the ICPMS technology, and to my colleague, the late Dr. Avi Lorber, who further expanded its analytical performance. I also thank Dr. Eyal Elish and Hagit Sela for their advice and assistance. Last, but certainly not least, special thanks to my wife, Hana, for her support and encouragement throughout my career and in preparing this manuscript. 

In this chapter, we tried to present an overview of the properties of uranium (the element, isotopes, and main compounds) that are relevant to the subject matter of this book. An understanding of the industrial aspects of uranium processing, and especially its role in the NFC, is essential in order to appreciate the ways uranium affects our lives. We also tried to briefly discuss the main analytical techniques that are used in the characterization of uranium, whether as a major component, a minor component, or a trace in environmental and biological samples. A detailed description of the analytical techniques will be given in the following chapters. 

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