The Strength And Weaknesses Of U-Teva Methods To Determine Uranium Isotopes

Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) which has been identified and isolated in the environmental samples using the radiochemical separation methods. Different radiochemical separation methods has been used in the Radiochemistry and Environment Laboratory (RAS) . Previously, the uranium isotopes results produced are inconsistent and not reliable, a new approach has been introduced to overcome the problems. A new approached using Eichroms TRU resin which is consists of the extraction of chromatographic material in which the extracting system is Octylphenyl-N,N-di-isobutyl Carbamoyl phosphine Oxide (abbreviated CMPO) dissolved in tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) running into 10 Standard Reference Material (CRM) samples. The determination of uranium isotopes in the Standard Reference Material (CRM) samples using alpha spectrometry counting system for 72 hour counting. The finding shows that the U-score values of Uranium isotopes are in the certified values range. Consequently, new method is more reliable and consistency, however the costing of the TRU resin itself will burden the radiochemical separation process. (author)