request for info on British Pa-231 isolation

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

Dear Radsafers,

Does anyone have any further information on the topic of Protactinium
isolation from natural sources ?
According to J. C. Spirlet et-al, "Preparation and Purification of Actinide
Metals," Adv. in Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 31, pp. 1-41, 1987.

> "British researchers... isolat[ed] ...some hundred grams of  231Pa from
> the sludge left over from uranium processing" for inorganic chemistry
> research."
> 
> and :
> 
> 231Pa "occurs in pitchblende in the amount of 300mg/ton, about the same as
> radium." 
> 
> (Note :  "the sludge left over from uranium processing" contains
> concentrated amounts of NORMs, hence the material constitutes a type of
> TENORM)
> 
In particular, what the British researchers' source might have been (and the
Pa-TENORM enhancement ratio in the sludge), and how many tonnes they had to
process to get their 100 gm ?

> Comment: Whatever the "sludge" source of the British chemists was, I doubt
> that it represented a significant fraction of the total produced in
> uranium mines around the world. The implication being that multi-kilogram
> quantities of  231Pa could potentially be extracted by a sufficiently
> determined organization - without ever having to overcome any sort of
> nonproliferation safeguards. (Also, Pa happens to be a much
> better-handling metal than Pu, with a much higher m.p., like Th)
> 
> Jaro
frantaj@aecl.ce
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