[ RadSafe ] Fw: Uranium contamination

Wed Mar 24 17:04:05 CDT 2010

Just to add - most soils worldwide contain 1 ppm uranium.  Higher 
levels are associated with granites, phosphates and shales.

Mike

At 05:39 PM 3/24/2010, Dan W McCarn wrote:
>Dear Group:
>
>OK, I'll step in on this one!  About 1/4 of the US is directly underlain
>with uranium-bearing soils and rock, specifically those underlain by the
>Chattanooga Shale, Pierre Shale or Mancos Shale.  Typical concentrations of
>uranium in these marine black shales are 80-120 ppm or about 0.01% U.
>Phosphorites also contain significant uranium at about the same
>concentration.  Florida has abundant occurrences / deposits of uraniferous
>marine phosphorites.
>
>That being said, the uranium in these rocks are fairly tightly bound
>organically.  Uranium which might occur in other rock types would tend to
>lose uranium fairly quickly on exposure to meteoric conditions except under
>certain conditions (availability of vanadium).
>
>We had a discussion about this subject two or three years ago including
>calculations for the "English Garden".  I did a recalculation for
>Chattanooga shale soils about that time.
>
>There are other modes of reconcentration in soils including pedogenic
>calcretes which tend to concentrate U by evaporative pumping in the desert
>SW. Also called hardpan, duricrusts, pedocretes and caliche, they can be
>formed from silica (silcretes), calcium carbonate (calcretes), or gypsum
>(gypcretes).  The Ogallala Fm from Texas to the Dakotas contains uraniferous
>pedogenic silcretes.
>
>That doesn't answer your question, but perhaps covers some of the ranges of
>soil concentrations associated with a common rock type.
>
>Dan ii
>
>--
>Dan W McCarn, Geologist
>2867 A Fuego Sagrado
>Santa Fe, NM 87505
>+1-505-310-3922 (Mobile - New Mexico)
>HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Jerry Cohen
>Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 15:06
>To: Miller, Mark L; radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
>Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Fw: Uranium contamination
>
>Can anyone suggest any reasonable set of conditions where soil contamination
>with uranium might constitute a credible threat to health and safety ?
>Jerry Cohen
>
>PS: It is now springtime, or as Al Gore suggests,  "Proof of global warming"
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: "Miller, Mark L" <mmiller at sandia.gov>
>To: Jerry Cohen <jjcohen at prodigy.net>
>Sent: Wed, March 24, 2010 10:16:53 AM
>Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Fw:  Uranium  contamination
>
>As with everything, the answer is, "It depends."  A pathway analysis (like
>RESRAD) can tell you if a problem exists, it's magnitude and the most likely
>pathway(s) of exposure.  The devil's in the dose.  Armed with that, you can
>THEN ask, "Now what"?  The "what" might be "no action" or appropriately
>targeted action.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jerry Cohen [mailto:jjc105 at yahoo.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 4:24 PM
>To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
>Subject: [ RadSafe ] Fw: Uranium contamination
>
>
>Does the existence of Uranium contamination in soil constitute a credible
>threat to heath and safety, or is this just another costly federal
>"feel-good" program? If such uranium contamination is really a problem, what
>should be done with the millions of tons of uranium in the oceanic coastal
>waters. We even are allowing children to swim in it.
>Jerry Cohen
>________________________________
>From: Cary Renquist <cary.renquist at ezag.com>
>To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
>Sent: Fri, March 19, 2010 6:10:01 PM
>Subject: [ RadSafe ] Argonne scientists seek natural remediation for
>uranium-rich sites
>
>They are looking to understand and optimize the conditions under which
>bacteria can
>transform U(IV) <soluble> to U(VI) <insoluble>
>
>Argonne scientists seek natural remediation for uranium-rich sites
>Link  http://j.mp/b3AHAh
>Cary
>--
>Cary.renquist at ezag.com
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