Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 17, 2026

Separation of Uranium and Thorium for 230Th-U Dating of Submarine Hydrothermal Sulfides
Published on: May 20, 2019
Rapid high precision analysis of uranium content in Texas ores using gamma-ray spectrometry
1Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab, Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas USA, 78758; Los Alamos National Laboratory PO Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.
Abstract:
The nuclear fuel cycle relies on the accurate and reliable quantification of uranium content in ores. Here, we offer a gamma-ray spectrometry method employing high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors to determine the total uranium content of a small ore sample from south Texas after accounting for gamma-ray self-attenuation. We show the quantification of uranium content using the 1001.0 keV gamma-ray produced by the daughter product 234mPa from the 238U series. We utilized a152Eu point-source to determine an attenuation correction factor for the ore sample at varying gamma-ray energies to significantly improve the accuracy of the method. Through the comparator method, we show a quick non-destructive method for quantifying the total uranium content in a Texas ore of 6.17 ± 0.09 wt% with a 1.52 % relative uncertainty within a 2 h count time utilizing 26.5 g of material.
More Related Videos
07:52A Novel Technique for Raman Analysis of Highly Radioactive Samples Using Any Standard Micro-Raman Spectrometer
Published on: April 12, 2017
09:23Removal of Trace Elements by Cupric Oxide Nanoparticles from Uranium In Situ Recovery Bleed Water and Its Effect on Cell Viability
Published on: June 21, 2015
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Overview
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: Lab
Solutions containing organic solvents, such as low-molecular-mass alcohols, esters, or ketones, enhance absorbances by increasing...
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Lab
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Instrumentation
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: Overview
When irradiated by EMR of a particular wavelength, these...
Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy