[ RadSafe ] Depleted Uranium Found In Urine 20 Years Later

Brennan, Mike (DOH) Mike.Brennan at DOH.WA.GOV
Thu Nov 1 11:07:34 CDT 2007


Mass spec is not my thing, so I admit to only a basic knowledge.  How
would MS, in any of its forms, differentiate between U234 and Th234? 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Olsson Mattias :MSO
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 11:26 PM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: SV: [ RadSafe ] Depleted Uranium Found In Urine 20 Years Later

That comment about the "old-fashioned" alpha sceptroscopy was weird.
Disregarding the VAST dependence on the half-life of the nuclide. A more
sensitive MS should move the limit for when the MS is a better choice
(towards shorter half-lives) but that comment smells more to me like
arguments such as "wind power is better than old-fashioned nuclear".

/Mattias Olsson, Sweden

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----

At 10:59 PM 10/28/2007, Roger Helbig wrote:
>I rather wonder if the test proves that DU is there or that uranium is 
>there -- I have asked Dr Parrish what steps he has taken to preclude 
>natural uranium being reported as being DU.  The "aerosol"
>comment makes it sound like Parrish was not particularly unbiased when 
>he began this testing.
******************************
October 29, 2007

The sector field - inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry
(SF-ICP-MS) and multiple collector - inductively coupled plasma - mass
spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) can provide incredibly accurate measurements of
all uranium isotopes in urine including U-234, U-235, U-236, U-238. [I
think that this method has also been applied to to plutonium isotopes,
and it is far more accurate and precise that old-fashioned alpha
particle energy spectra counting.]

...
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