Applying multivariate statistics to discriminate uranium ore concentrate geolocations using (radio)chemical data in support of nuclear forensic investigations
Applying multivariate statistics to discriminate uranium ore concentrate geolocations using (radio)chemical data in support of nuclear forensic investigations
The application of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to U and Th series gamma spectrometry data provides a discriminatory tool to help determine the provenance of illicitly recovered uranium ore concentrates (UOCs). The PCA is applied to a database of radiometric signatures from 19 historic UOCs from Australia, Canada, and the USA representing many uranium geological deposits. In this study a key process to obtain accurate radiometric data (gamma and alpha) is to digest the U-ores and UOCs using a lithium tetraborate fusion. Six UOCs from the same sample set were analysed ‘blind’ and compared against the database to identify their geolocation. These UOCs were all accurately linked to their correct geolocations which can aid the forensic laboratory in determining which further analytical techniques should be used to improve the confidence of the particular location.
172-181
Reading, David G.
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Croudace, Ian W.
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Warwick, Phillip E.
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Cigliana, Kassie
ee80982e-eaf7-43f1-8bce-3610674ca29b
October 2016
Reading, David G.
e875ad0e-0316-469b-9e82-f93f48ef4734
Croudace, Ian W.
24deb068-d096-485e-8a23-a32b7a68afaf
Warwick, Phillip E.
f2675d83-eee2-40c5-b53d-fbe437f401ef
Cigliana, Kassie
ee80982e-eaf7-43f1-8bce-3610674ca29b
Reading, David G., Croudace, Ian W., Warwick, Phillip E. and Cigliana, Kassie
(2016)
Applying multivariate statistics to discriminate uranium ore concentrate geolocations using (radio)chemical data in support of nuclear forensic investigations.
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 162-163, .
(doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.05.013).
Abstract
The application of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to U and Th series gamma spectrometry data provides a discriminatory tool to help determine the provenance of illicitly recovered uranium ore concentrates (UOCs). The PCA is applied to a database of radiometric signatures from 19 historic UOCs from Australia, Canada, and the USA representing many uranium geological deposits. In this study a key process to obtain accurate radiometric data (gamma and alpha) is to digest the U-ores and UOCs using a lithium tetraborate fusion. Six UOCs from the same sample set were analysed ‘blind’ and compared against the database to identify their geolocation. These UOCs were all accurately linked to their correct geolocations which can aid the forensic laboratory in determining which further analytical techniques should be used to improve the confidence of the particular location.
Text
JENVRAD-D-16-00138R1.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 14 May 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 3 June 2016
Published date: October 2016
Organisations:
Ocean and Earth Science, Geochemistry, Faculty of Humanities
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 401240
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/401240
ISSN: 0265-931X
PURE UUID: be27d5eb-6687-4dfe-94c3-a1760448a1c5
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Date deposited: 27 Oct 2016 08:18
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:27
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Author:
Kassie Cigliana
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