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V. P. Mironov, J. L. Matusevich, V. P. Kudrjashov, P. I. Ananich, V. V. Zhuravkov, S. F. Boulyga, J. S. Becker

Determination of uranium concentration and burn-up of irradiated reactor fuel in contaminated areas in Belarus using uranium isotopic ratios in soil samples

An analytical method is described for the estimation of uranium concentrations, of ²³⁵U/²³⁸U and ²³⁶U/²³⁸U isotope ratios and burn-up of irradiated reactor uranium in contaminated soil samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Experimental results obtained at 12 sampling sites situated on northern and western radioactive fallout tails 4 to 53 km distant from Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) are presented. Concentrations of irradiated uranium in the upper 0–10 cm soil layers at the investigated sampling sites varied from 2.1×10^-9 g/g to 2.0×10^-6 g/g depending mainly on the distance from Chernobyl NPP. A slight variation of the degree of burn-up of spent reactor uranium was revealed by analyzing ²³⁵U/²³⁸U and ²³⁶U/²³⁸U isotope ratios and the average value amounted to 9.4±0.3 MWd/(kg U).

Radiochimica Acta, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag

Print ISSN: 0033-8230
Volume: 93, 12/2005
Pages: 781 - 784

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