Calibration of the NDUSRM series and further measurements of ²³⁶U/²³⁸U isotopic ratios in the Ewing collection.

Authors

Thomas L Bailey, David Lund, Griffin Mulcahy, Alistaer Zhou, Noah Cabanas, John P McDonaugh, Ruchi Rathod, William Von Seeger, Philippe Collon

Published in

Journal of environmental radioactivity. Pages 108168. Oct 09, 2026. Epub Oct 09, 2026.

Abstract

²³⁶U is one of the rarest isotopes of uranium, occurring in ores with an abundance below 1×10^-9. Due to a wide variety of geological factors, the ²³⁶U content in a given uranium ore body is considered to be a unique "fingerprint" like signature, with applications in nuclear forensics and geophysics. Its low abundance though is only detectable via Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), capable of measuring ²³⁶U/²³⁸U ratios below 1×10^-11. Improvements to the AMS setup at the University of Notre Dame's Nuclear Science Laboratory, have greatly improved its detection limit, enabling measurements across the entire ²³⁶U/²³⁸U ratio range found in natural ores. A description of the improvements is presented. A survey of the ²³⁶U/²³⁸U ratio of various ores from North American and African mines was conducted with the improved setup, using in house reference standards to quantify the measurements. A new detection limit of 1×10^-12 was established.

PMID:
42855381
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Oct 2026.

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