Uranium content of petroleum by Fission track technique

This paper examines the feasibility of the fission track registration technique to investigate the natural uranium concentration in petroleum. The application is briefly described and the results obtained indicate the presence of uranium concentrations in samples of Brazilian petroleum which are over the detection limit of the fission track technique. The irradiations were performed by using fluxes with predominance of thermal neutrons, which have a fission cross-section for U 235 equal to 579 barns. Since the neutron fluxes were not comp sed exclusively of thermal neutrons, fissions from fast neutrons would also be taken into account for U 238 and Th 232