[ RadSafe ] What fertilizer - specifically????

[Dan McCarn]

Hi Group:

The fertilizer that I've always been concerned with is phosphate fertilizer
BECAUSE all marine phosphorites contain about 125 mg/kg U (and progeny) and
are the primary source of phosphate fertilizer worldwide.  During
processing, the wet phosphoric acid process adds H2SO4 to the ore forming
H3PO4 and the radium is generally precipitated as a sulfate and discarded
in the tailings but the uranium is carried-over into the product.
 Following addition of H2SO4, it is possible to use solvent extraction
(DEPA-TOPO as the extractant) to recover 90% of the uranium from the raw
phosphoric acid..

I have an unpublished paper on the cost of uranium recovery from phosphates
from various technologies (SX,IX, etc.) which was circulated at an IAEA
conference in the 90s.

See http://www.aiche-cf.org/Clearwater/2008/Paper1/8.1.4.pdf

Also note that potash mining generally involves mining KCl as a bedded salt.

Thus, most phosphate fertilizers contain significant uranium.

I will not comment on pigs that only follow.

Dan ii

Dan W McCarn, Geologist
108 Sherwood Blvd
Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
+1-505-672-2014 (Home – New Mexico)
+1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)
HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com



On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Ted de Castro <tdc at xrayted.com> wrote:

> Ah yes - welding rods - thanks  I'll check out my inventory.  For this
> particular audience that would me particularly cogent.
>
> Tried a banana - just before it was breakfast - BARELY detectable on my
> pancake GM.
>
>
> On 11/5/2012 8:34 AM, Mercado, Donald Paul. (ARC-QH)[CONSOLIDATED SAFETY
> SERVICES INC] wrote:
>
>> I know you've probably thought of these, but I'll be redundant,
>>
>> Radium & H3 dials, exit signs, welding rods, Cloisonné jewelry, a thyroid
>> cancer patient (really exciting if you have a microR meter with a speaker),
>> refractory bricks, water scale, a banana.....
>>
>> Someone came in here last week with a H3 glow stick from Canada that was
>> MUCH brighter than any exit sign tube I've ever seen, said it was meant for
>> camping.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.**iit.edu<radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu>[mailto:
>> radsafe-bounces@**health.phys.iit.edu<radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu>]
>> On Behalf Of Ted de Castro
>> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:18 AM
>> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
>> Subject: [ RadSafe ] What fertilizer - specifically????
>>
>> I need to give a general radiation talk and want to include samples of
>> radiation around us ....
>>
>> I have my Fiestaware, lamp mantel, sand from the beach in Kerala India,
>> smoke detector sources, DU, NoSalt and thought maybe a small bag of
>> fertilizer would go well.
>>
>> Any specific suggestions to make my quest quicker - and yeah yeah I know
>> - not in a crowded store with lots of customers and volume full up.
>>
>> Thanks for your help.
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>
>
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