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Radium-226 in uranium mill tailings

I. Fate and consequent dissolution

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Abstract

A study of the physical state of226Ra in uranium mill tailings was undertaken by Chemex Laboratories Ltd. under contract to NUTP. A test portion of a leached uranium ore was collected just prior to neutralization with lime and subjected to repetitive batch water leaching. The leachates were analyzed for barium, lead,226Ra, iron and sulphate. The experimental results suggest that226Ra is co-precipitated with lead sulphate during uranium leaching of the ore with sulphuric acid. The attainment of equilibrium conditions in the pore water of the leached ore then allows a re-proportioning of226Ra between solid lead and barium sulphates resulting in a depletion of226Ra in the outer layers of the crystals of solid lead sulphate and an enrichment in226Ra in the outer layers of solid barium sulphate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NUTP, Mineral Sciences Laboratories, CANMET, Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    H. F. Steger

  2. Chemex Laboratories Ltd., North Vancouver, B.C., Canada

    M. Legeyt

Authors
  1. H. F. Steger
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  2. M. Legeyt
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Steger, H.F., Legeyt, M. Radium-226 in uranium mill tailings. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Articles 111, 95–104 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02060524

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02060524

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