Analysis of uranium in the insoluble residues after decomposition of soil samples by various techniques

S Jurečič; L Benedik; P Planinšek; M Nečemer; P Kump; B Pihlar

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2013.11.077

Analysis of uranium in the insoluble residues after decomposition of soil samples by various techniques

Appl Radiat Isot. 2014 May:87:61-5. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2013.11.077. Epub 2013 Dec 1.

Authors

S Jurečič¹, L Benedik², P Planinšek³, M Nečemer³, P Kump³, B Pihlar¹

Affiliations

¹ University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Aškerčeva 5, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
² Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: ljudmila.benedik@ijs.si.
³ Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.

PMID: 24359791
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2013.11.077

Abstract

A comparison of different dissolution techniques for determination of uranium in soil samples was made. Conventional wet dissolution with mixtures of HNO3, HClO4 and HF acids, microwave dissolution using HNO3 and HF, and alkaline fusion with Na2CO3 and Na2O2 were evaluated. For testing the effectiveness of the dissolution procedures, two reference materials and six soil samples from the surroundings of a former uranium mine were investigated. It was observed that the content of uranium in the residues determined by INAA represents a significant contribution to its total concentration in the sample, especially in the case of microwave dissolution.

Keywords: Decomposition; INAA; Residue; Soil; Uranium.