Uranium refineries radioactivity

As received by the uranium refinery, uranium ore concentrates now usually consist of uranium oxide or sodium, magnesium, or ammonium diuranate. These concentrates still contain appreciable amounts of elements other than uranium and some of uranium s radioactive decay products present in the original uranium ore, such as radium and radon. 

Two epidemiology studies have examined mortality among thorium workers neither found significant excess mortality. The standard mortality ratio (SMR) for all causes of death in a cohort of 3039 male workers in a thorium processing plant was 1.05 in comparison to United States white males (Polednak et al. 1983). The estimated radiation levels to the workers for inhalation intake ranged from 0.003-0.192 nCi/m (0.001-0.007 Bq/m ) for a period of 1-33 years. No evidence of overt industrial disease was found in a cohort of 84 workers at a thorium refinery exposed to <0.045-450 nCi/m (<0.002-0.02 Bq/m ) for <1-20 years (Albert et al. 1955). In both studies, the workers were exposed to other toxic compounds (uranium dust) as well as other radioactive materials (thoron, uranium daughters, thorium daughters, cerium). 

Impoundment Detoxifier is a commercially available proprietary technology for the treatment of impoundments containing chemical, biological, or radioactive sludges or semisolid wastes. The vendor claims that Impoundment Detoxifier has successfully treated wastes from field and refinery operations, chemical operations, and uranium operations. All information is from the vendor and has not been independently verified. 

Perhaps it simply did not occur to Chalk River that Eldorado should handle isotope distribution. The scientists there knew Eldorado as a uranium producer but had no sense that its destiny was linked to theirs. Moreover, their opinion of Eldorado was tainted by the Port Hope refinery s reputation for poor control of radioactive emissions - the legacy of three decades of processing radium in an era of less rigorous health standards. W.B. Lewis was appalled by conditions there. Errington shared this concern and had eliminated Port Hope as a possible site for Eldorado s isotope work. Nevertheless, many people associated Eldorado s sales department with Port Hope, which gave it a bush-league reputation in the minds of the Chalk River cognoscenti. 

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