Specific Activity of Uranium and Thorium in Marketable Rock Phosphate As A Function of Particle Size
- 1 July 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wolters Kluwer Health in Health Physics
- Vol. 39 (1) , 69-75
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00004032-198007000-00008
Abstract
Marketable rock phosphate fertilizer from Florida, USA, was classified into 7 particle size fractions ranging from 149 .mu.m to < 0.5 .mu.m using a Bacho Microparticle Classifier and air elutriation. The resulting size fractions were assayed for U and 230Th by solvent extraction and liquid scintillation .alpha.-spectroscopy. The specific activity of U and 230Th increased with decreasing particle size. Maximum activities of 110 pCi/g U and 50 pCi/g 230Th were found in particles less than 1.0 .mu.m in aerodynamic diameter. Qualitative emission spectrographic analysis of the fractions revealed that the concentrations of Al, Cu, Mg, Na, Ti and Zn also increased with decreasing particle size.Keywords
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