Uranium?

["Al Castellane" <castella@ohsu.edu>]

All, 

Some people  in the local community are renting a house where an old chemist used to live and has since passed away. They were in the basement and found some old books and writings talking about radioactivity. 
To make a long story somewhat shorter, we went out and found that there were what looked like uranyl acetate or nitrate crystals in one area of the basement along with a rock that was found to be radioactive. Under a dissecting scope, the rock had greenish yellow flecks embedded in it that were easily removed with a needle. 
Upon closer inspection of the crystals, they weren't really crystals at all but had the same compisition of mica. They were yellow green and were sheetlike, they would also crumble in your hand (I had gloves) under slight to moderate pressure. I put them on our gamma spec and got a spectrum that matched  the radium spectrum exactly. I know there is radium in uranium but what kind of spectrum might I see? Could anyone give me an idea of what this mineral (if it is) might be. 

Replies can be sent to my private e-mail.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Al Castellane
Oregon Health Sciences University
castellla@ohsu.edu

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