Nuclear Forensic Analysis of Rare Earth Elements in Uranium Ore Concentrates

WANG Lan; CHU Quanli; GE Liangsheng; JI Jianchen; HUANG Ming; WU Zhaohui

doi:10.15898/j.ykcs.202302030013

Rock and Mineral Analysis > 2024 > 43(4): 622-631. > DOI: 10.15898/j.ykcs.202302030013

WANG Lan，CHU Quanli，GE Liangsheng，et al. Nuclear Forensic Analysis of Rare Earth Elements in Uranium Ore Concentrates[J]. Rock and Mineral Analysis，2024，43（4）：622−631. DOI: 10.15898/j.ykcs.202302030013

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Nuclear Forensic Analysis of Rare Earth Elements in Uranium Ore Concentrates

1.
Command Center of Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey, China Geological Survey, Beijing 100055, China
2.
State Nuclear Security Technology Center, Beijing 102401, China
3.
Mudanjiang Center of Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey, China Geological Survey, Mudanjiang 157021, China

More Information

Received Date: February 01, 2023
Revised Date: May 30, 2024
Accepted Date: June 12, 2024
Available Online: August 08, 2024

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The distribution pattern of rare earth elements (REEs) in uranium ore concentrates (UOC) is an important fingerprint information for geological source tracing in nuclear forensics. It is particularly important to accurately determine the content of rare earth elements in UOC. Because of the large amount of the uranium matrix effect, the ionization efficiency of rare earth elements is low when determined by ICP-MS, and the results are significantly low. It is most important to remove the uranium matrix for accurately determining rare earth elements in UOC. A rapid separation method for rare earth elements in UOC by study of experimental conditions of Eichrom TRU resin, such as equilibrium solution acidity of column, adsorption acidity, leaching acidity and volume of rare earth elements is established. The content of uranium in eluent is lower than ng/kg, the recovery of REEs ranges from 88.3% to 104.0%, and the detection limit of REEs through ICP-MS analysis is from 0.001μg/kg to 0.190μg/kg after the separation of uranium and rare earth elements in UOC by TRU Resin. This method is used to determine the standard material GBW04205 for uranium ore, and the measured values are consistent with the standard values. Further analysis of four samples of UOC from different sources shows that the method can accurately determine the rare earth elements in UOC. The established distribution pattern of rare earth elements is effective for the geographical traceability of UOC nuclear forensics.
- nuclear forensics,
- uranium ore concentrates,
- Eichrom TRU resin,
- rare earth elements,
- inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

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References (31)

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