Open AccessIsotopic profiling of natural uranium mined from northern Nigeria for nuclear forensic application
Author(s) -
Samuel Odumu Ogana John,
I. T. Usman
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
south african journal of science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.317
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1996-7489
pISSN - 0038-2353
DOI - 10.17159/sajs.2022/10678
Subject(s) - uranium , natural uranium , thorium , isotopes of uranium , radiochemistry , isotope , enriched uranium , environmental chemistry , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , environmental science , chemistry , geology , mass spectrometry , nuclear physics , physics , chromatography
Four mined samples of natural uranium from northern Nigeria were studied through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, at the Environmental Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The samples were characterised for lead, thorium and uranium isotopic concentrations, isotopic ratios and age. The objective was to obtain nuclear forensic fingerprints as baseline data to add to the Nigerian National Nuclear Forensic Library. Results showed significant variation in the isotopic concentrations of lead, thorium and uranium across the mines. Isotopic ratios of 238U/235U, 235U/238U and 234U/238U across the sample of 137.881±0.007, 7.253×10-03±2.05×10-04 and 5.540×10-05±4.08×10-07 were found to be consistent with the natural values. The age of natural uranium is comparable to the age of earth. Uranium, lead, and thorium isotopic concentrations and ratios, as well as the age of the samples characterised, provide an isotopic profile that can be used for nuclear forensic application.