Pyrochemical processes are under development at Argonne National Laboratory for recovery of transuranium (TRU) elements from light water reactor spent fuel. The recovered TRU elements will be used as fuel in the integral fast reactor (IFR). Burning these long-lived isotopes for electrical power generation has the additional benefit of reducing the burden on the geological repository for their l...

Natural uranium is comprised of three radioactive isotopes: 238 U, 235 U, and 234 U. Depleted uranium (DU) is a byproduct of the processes for the enrichment of the naturally occurring 235 U isotope. The world wide stock pile contains some 11⁄2 million tons of depleted uranium. Some of it has been used to dilute weapons grade uranium (~90% 235 U) down to reactor grade uranium (~5% 235 U), and s...

Oceanic oxygen levels are projected to drop in certain areas due to warming climate, but the net effect to the overall ocean redox state is difficult to predict. Here we measured the “stable” uranium isotope composition (U/U) in globally representative hydrogenous ferromanganese crusts in order to reconstruct the redox evolution of the global ocean throughout the Cenozoic. Samples averaging 3 M...

Tungsten alloys (WA) have been introduced in an attempt to find safer alternatives to depleted uranium and lead munitions. However, it is known that at least one alloy, 91% tungsten-6% nickel-3% cobalt (WNC-91-6-3), causes rhabdomyosarcomas when fragments are implanted in rat muscle. This raises concerns that shrapnel, if not surgically removable, may result in similar tumours in humans. There ...

While the quantification of uranium is therefore demanding in the diluted sample, uranium isotope ratio determination requires the ultimate in instrumental performance as good precisions for large isotope ratios are required at low concentrations. The abundances of the three naturally occurring U isotopes are shown in Table 1, together with the 234U/238U and 235U/238U ratios. The nuclear indust...

BACKGROUND The deleterious impact of uranium on human health has been linked to its radioactive and heavy metal-chemical properties. Decades of research has defined the causal relationship between uranium mining/milling and onset of kidney and respiratory diseases 25 years later. OBJECTIVE We investigated the hypothesis that uranium, similar to other heavy metals such as cadmium, acts like es...

Uranium is ubiquitously found in drinking water and food. The gastrointestinal tract absorption fraction (f(1)) is an important parameter in risk assessment of uranium burdens from ingestion. Although absorption of uranium from ingestion has been studied extensively in the past, human data concerning children and adults are still limited. In a previous study based on measurements of uranium con...