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Evaluation of two radiochemical procedures for the determination of uranium and thorium isotopes in coal samples

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Abstract

Two procedures are presented for the sequential determination of uranium and thorium isotopes in coals. They are based on acid leaching on a hot plate, and on acid digestion in closed vessels using microwave irradiation. Both were applied to the analysis of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reference materials, and to the study of coals with different ranks. The greatest recoveries were obtained with the acid digestion method. This method was more effective than the leaching method for the extraction of the uranium isotopes in coals. The effectiveness of the thorium isotopes extraction was similar in the two methods.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for this work was provided by the Government of Spain (Project CTM2010-17776). The authors are indebted to Dr Arenillas of INCAR-CSIC (Spain) for providing the coal samples. They would also like to thank A. Botet and D. Omenat of the ICMC (Spain) for the pre-treatment of the coal.

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  1. Department of Applied Physics, University of Extremadura, 06800, Mérida, Spain

    A. M. Carrasco Lourtau & M. P. Rubio Montero

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  1. A. M. Carrasco Lourtau
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  2. M. P. Rubio Montero
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Correspondence to M. P. Rubio Montero.

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Carrasco Lourtau, A.M., Rubio Montero, M.P. Evaluation of two radiochemical procedures for the determination of uranium and thorium isotopes in coal samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 307, 1175–1181 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4296-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4296-x

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