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Analysis of U and Th in soils and sediments B—Why do we sometimes get the WRONG RESULT?

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Abstract

In 1978, the National Bureau of Standards began a program to develop environmental-level natural matrix radionuclide Standard Reference Materials for the evaluation of analytical methods. A customer reported a −15 % difference between their value and the certified uranium massic concentration in SRM 4353 (Rocky Flats Soil B I). This report prompted an investigation using several independent methods to confirm the certified uranium value. Investigation indicated the discrepancy to be due to a highly insoluble minor mineral fraction that contained high concentrations of uranium. The suspect mineral, zircon, is widespread in soils and sediments and represents an analytical complication.

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Acknowledgments

It is only with their generous contributions of time, effort, labor, and well-earned scientific experience that this project could have reached this point development. The primary author offers his deepest gratitude and apologizes to laboratories and investigators that were not acknowledged fully.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. K&E Inn Ovations, 91-1329 Kuano’o Street, Ewa Beach, HI, 96706, USA

    Kenneth G. W. Inn

  2. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

    J. M. Robin Hutchinson, William R. Kelly, Robert Greenberg & A. Norris

  3. Environmental Measurements Laboratory, New York, NY, USA

    Phillip Krey, Melvin S. Feiner & E. Fisenne

  4. National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK

    Donald S. Popplewell

  5. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA

    Ernest Gladney

  6. Oregon State University, Corvallas, OR, USA

    Thomas Beasley & C. A. Huh

  7. Radiological and Environmental Sciences Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA

    Donald R. Percival

Authors
  1. Kenneth G. W. Inn
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  2. J. M. Robin Hutchinson
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  3. William R. Kelly
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  4. Robert Greenberg
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  5. A. Norris
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  6. Phillip Krey
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  7. Melvin S. Feiner
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  8. E. Fisenne
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  9. Donald S. Popplewell
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  10. Ernest Gladney
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  11. Thomas Beasley
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  12. C. A. Huh
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  13. Donald R. Percival
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenneth G. W. Inn.

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Inn, K.G.W., Robin Hutchinson, J.M., Kelly, W.R. et al. Analysis of U and Th in soils and sediments B—Why do we sometimes get the WRONG RESULT?. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 307, 2513–2520 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4566-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4566-7

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