High precision determination of uranium in ore by gamma-ray spectrometry

Abstract

A new approach for the determination of elemental uranium in uranium bearing ore, using high resolution γ-ray spectrometry, was applied. Using a variant of the enrichment technique an agreement of better than 1% has been obtained between γ-ray measurement results and a certified value obtained by other analytical methods. For the calibration of the γ-ray spectrometer uranium reference samples have been used which are made available jointly in Europe and the USA as Certified Reference Materials for Gamma-Ray Spectrometry (EC NRM 171 and NBS SRM 969, respectively). The measured ore has been put in a special designed container which ensured in all directions seen from the radiation window an uniform degree of infinite thickness of about 95%. The results can be taken as an example for the applicability of γ-ray spectrometry when high accuracy is required and under conditions were homogeneously distributed elemental uranium is embedded in larger amount of matrix material.