[ RadSafe ] Concerning Rizzini's claim of one ug U-238

[Dan McCarn]

Dear Otto:

Most natural oxidizing waters contain about 1 ug/L U or more. I've measured
concentrations in the 100s of ug/L U in natural environments. Large
portions of my project areas (geological exploration) contain 5-10 ug/L U
as normal background in aquifers.  Reducing waters are typically
undetectable <0.1 ug/L U.

In one project area, the San Luis Valley, Southern Colorado, I plotted eH &
pH values across a regional redox-controlled roll-front.  See:

McCarn, Dan W. (2004): Scoping Calculations: Natural and anthropogenic
multi-pathway risks associated with naturally occurring uranium
mineralization in aquifers;
*IAEA-TECDOC-1396<http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1396_web.pdf>
*, pp.289-315.

http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1396_web.pdf

Fig. 3, Page 295 is an Eh / pH diagram showing stability fields for the
mineral uraninite (UO2) and 3 aqueous carbonate species of uranium.
.
Clearly, he is mistaken!


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, Oct 28, 2013 at 1:14 AM, Otto G. Raabe <ograabe at ucdavis.edu> wrote:

> Rizzini has been quoted as saying that one microgram of U-238 can kill a
> person. An article from March 31, 2011, Rizzini once again claims that 1
> microgram of uranium is enough to kill a person:
>
> PLEASE CHECK MY MATH: According to ICRP-2 (page 81) a human can have a
> body burden of U-238 of 0.5 microcuries without lifetime risk.
> That is 0.5 microcuries times 3.7 x 109 Bq/uCi = 1.9 x 109 Bq. One
> microgram of U-238 equals 0.012 Bq.
>
> Hence, according to ICRP-2 a human could have an internal burden of about
> ten grams without significant radiation risk.
>
> Am I missing something here? Please check my math.
>
> Otto
>
> ************************************************
> Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
> Center for Health & the Environment
> University of California
> One Shields Avenue
> Davis, CA 95616
> E-Mail: ograabe at ucdavis.edu
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