Radiochemical Procedure for Measurement Specific Activities of Uranium Isotopes in Asphaltite Bioleaching Liquor by Alpha-Particle Spectrometry

Abstract

An analytical procedure for the alpha-source preparation is investigated in the study to determine uranium radioisotopes specific activities in the bioleaching liquor leach from asphaltite samples taken from the Silopi region in Türkiye. The purpose is to develop a new radiochemical method that can provide the alpha-particle spectrometry requirements. The proposed analytical procedure includes sample preparation, radiochemical purification of uranium from bioleaching liquor, alpha-source preparation on a substrate and alpha-particle spectrometric analysis of isolated uranium. The method is valid for availability using the z-test, relative bias, and relative uncertainty outlier tests. The results show that the proposed analytical procedure is successfully implemented for measuring the activity concentration of uranium with high accuracy and precision in the bioleaching liquor.