Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory approach to hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance for uranium in the United States

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5475384

Bolivar, S L

The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the United States is conducting a geochemical survey for uranium in the Rocky Mountain states of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana and in Alaska. This survey is part of a national hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance in which four Department of Energy laboratories will study the uranium resources of the United States to provide data for the National Uranium Resource Evaluation program. The reconnaissance will identify areas having higher than background concentrations of uranium in ground waters, surface waters, and water-transported sediments. The reconnaissance data will be combined with data from airborne radiometric surveys and geological and geophysical investigations to provide an improved estimate for the economics and availability of nuclear fuel resources in the United States and to make information available to industry for use in the exploration and development of uranium resources. Water samples are analyzed for uranium by fluorometry which has a 0.02 parts per billion lower limit of detection. Concentrations of 12 additional elements in water are determined by plasma-source emission spectrography. All sediments are analyzed for uranium by delayed-neutron counting and a 20 parts per billion lower limit of detection. Elemental concentrations in sediments are also determined by neutron activation analysis, x-ray fluorescence, and by arc-source emission spectrography. To date, all of four Rocky Mountain states and about 80% of Alaska have been sampled. About 220,000 samples have been collected from an area of nearly 2,500,000 km/sup 2/. The philosophy, sampling methodology, analytical techniques, and progress of the reconnaissance are described in several published pilot study, reconnaissance, and technical reports. The Los Alamos program was designed to maximize the identification of uranium in terrains of varied geography, geology, and climate.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5475384
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-80-1013; CONF-800465-2; TRN: 80-009292
• Resource Relation: Conference: 8. international geochemical exploration symposium, Hanover, F.R. Germany, 10 Apr 1980
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ALASKA
GEOCHEMICAL SURVEYS
COLORADO
MONTANA
NEW MEXICO
URANIUM
ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY
FLUOROSCOPY
NEUTRON DETECTION
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS
URANIUM DEPOSITS
EXPLORATION
WYOMING
AERIAL MONITORING
DATA COMPILATION
ELEMENTS
FLOWSHEETS
HYDROLOGY
LASL
MAPS
NEUTRON REACTIONS
RADIATION MONITORING
SAMPLING
SEDIMENTS
TABLES
URANIUM RESERVES
WATER
ACTINIDES
BARYON REACTIONS
BIOMEDICAL RADIOGRAPHY
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
DATA
DATA FORMS
DETECTION
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DIAGRAMS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HADRON REACTIONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
MEDICINE
METALS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON REACTIONS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIOLOGY
RESERVES
RESOURCES
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SOUTHWEST REGION
SPECTROSCOPY
SURVEYS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
X-RAY EMISSION ANALYSIS
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510500 - Environment
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580100 - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)
400100 - Analytical & Separations Chemistry