Re: uranium in drinking water

["Bob Shannon" <bobshann@home.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Franz Schoenhofer" <franz.schoenhofer@chello.at>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: uranium in drinking water

>
> I recall, that U-238 and U-234 activity concentrations are usually equal.
I
> can hardly imagine any process that would disturb equilibrium when
leaching
> the isotopes from the ground rock or soil.
>

U-238/U-234 disequilibrium is very commonly observed  in groundwaters. The
phenomenon is reportedly responsible for U-234:U-238 activity ratios as high
as 10:1.  The mechanism that I have heard proposed for this is that U-234 is
relatively more soluble than U-238 in certain geological materials due to
recoil damage to the crystal caused during in situ decay of U-238 to U-234.


Bob Shannon
Radiochemistry Technical Director
Paragon Analytics, Inc.
Tel: 970-490-1511





************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html