Measurement of uranium in phosphate fertilizers for groundwater contamination employing X-ray and γ-ray spectroscopic techniques

The contribution of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizers to groundwater uranium contamination was investigated using the wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence technique and direct measurement of emitted γ-ray energy from primordial radionuclide present in the collected fertilizer samples. The role of fertilizers in uranium poisoning of groundwater has been studied for the first time. DAP fertilizer samples were gathered from Chandigarh and other places in Punjab state, India. About 30% of the DAP fertilizer samples have uranium concentrations between 100 and 200 ppm, whereas the rest have a low uranium content (less than 50 ppm). The strength of the 63.3 keV γ-ray signal produced by the decay of ²³⁴Th was also used to assess the uranium concentration in DAP samples. Furthermore, the impact of uranium poisoning of groundwater via fertilizers has been determined to have a substantial role in the water-logged region. (author)