[ RadSafe ] Pepto-Bismol

[Bernard L. Cohen]

Natural uranium should have the same alpha activity from U-238 and U-234 
(they are in secular equilibrium).. The enrichment process takes U-235 
from 0.7% to about 3.5% so the DU should have 1/5 as much U-235 as 
natural uranium. Enrichment shoud remove a  somewhat larger fraction of 
U-234 (it is lower in mass) than of U-235, so the U-234 alpha activity 
in DU should be somewhat less than 20% of that in natural uranium. Even 
if it was 20%, it would be 0.2/ (1+0.2) = 17% of the total alpha 
activity. How can it be as much as 28%?

Michael McNaughton wrote:

> According to figure 2.2 of DOE-STD-1136-2004, about 28% of the total 
> alpha activity of DU is U-234.
>
> At 06:01 PM 12/13/2006, John R Johnson wrote:
>
>> What do you mean by "pure depleted uranium"? Producing U-238 without 
>> U-234 is very difficult.
>
>
> Mike McNaughton
> Los Alamos National Lab.
> email: mcnaught at LANL.gov or mcnaughton at LANL.gov
> phone: 505-667-6130; page: 505-664-7733
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and 
> understood the RadSafe rules. These can be found at: 
> http://radlab.nl/radsafe/radsaferules.html
>
> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings 
> visit: http://radlab.nl/radsafe/


-- 
ÐÏࡱá