title: Field analyses of (238)U and (226)Ra in two uranium mill tailings piles from Niger using portable HPGe detector.
abstract: The radioactivities of (238)U and (226)Ra in mill tailings from the U mines of COMINAK and SOMAÏR in Niger were measured and quantified using a portable High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. The (238)U and (226)Ra activities were measured under field conditions on drilling cores with 600s measurements and without any sample preparation. Field results were compared with those obtained by Inductive Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and emanometry techniques. This comparison indicates that gamma-ray absorption by such geological samples does not cause significant deviations. This work shows the feasibility of using portable HPGe detector in the field as a preliminary method to observe variations of radionuclides concentration with the aim of identifying samples of interest. The HPGe is particularly useful for samples with strong secular disequilibrium such as mill tailings.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Case 115, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France; Université Paris Diderot, Paris VII, 5 rue Thomas Mann, 75013 Paris, France. Electronic address: adrien.dejeant@normalesup.org.
authors.forename: Adrien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Déjeant
authors.affiliation: Canberra UK, Harwell Oxford, Building 528.10 Unit 1, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0DF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bourva
authors.affiliation: AREVA - Business Group Mines, R&D Department, BAL 0414C-2, Tour AREVA, 1 place Jean Millier, 92084 Paris La Défense, France.
authors.forename: Radia
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sia
authors.affiliation: Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Case 115, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galoisy
authors.affiliation: Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Case 115, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calas
authors.affiliation: AREVA - Business Group Mines, R&D Department, BAL 0414C-2, Tour AREVA, 1 place Jean Millier, 92084 Paris La Défense, France.
authors.forename: Vannapha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Phrommavanh
authors.affiliation: AREVA - Business Group Mines, R&D Department, BAL 0414C-2, Tour AREVA, 1 place Jean Millier, 92084 Paris La Défense, France.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Descostes
mesh_terms: D008906:Mining; D009548:Niger; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011850:Radioactive Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000379:methods*; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D011850:Radioactive Waste; D014501:Uranium; D011883:Radium
keywords: HPGe; Mill tailings; Niger; Radium; Secular equilibrium; Uranium