Determination of Depleted Uranium in Environmental Bio-monitor Samples and Soil from Target sites in Western Balkan Region

Lichen and Moss are widely used to assess the atmospheric pollution by heavy metals and radionuclides. In this paper, we report results of uranium and its isotope ratios using mass spectrometric measurements (followed by chemical separation procedure) for mosses, lichens and soil samples from a depl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIP conference proceedings 2008-01, Vol.1034 (1), p.287-290
Main Authors: Sahoo, Sarata K, Enomoto, Hiroko, Tokonami, Shinji, Ishikawa, Tetsuo, Ujic, Predrag, Celikovic, Igor, Zunic, Zora S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
DEPLETED URANIUM
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL MATERIALS
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
HEAVY METALS
ICP MASS SPECTROSCOPY
ISOTOPE RATIO
LICHENS
MOSSES
RADIOACTIVITY
SOILS
URANIUM 235
URANIUM 238
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Summary:Lichen and Moss are widely used to assess the atmospheric pollution by heavy metals and radionuclides. In this paper, we report results of uranium and its isotope ratios using mass spectrometric measurements (followed by chemical separation procedure) for mosses, lichens and soil samples from a depleted uranium (DU) target site in western Balkan region. Samples were collected in 2003 from Han Pijesak (Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Hercegovina). Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements show the presence of high concentration of uranium in some samples. Concentration of uranium in moss samples ranged from 5.2 - 755.43 Bq/Kg. We have determined 235U/238U isotope ratio using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) from the samples with high uranium content and the ratios are in the range of 0.002097-0.002380. TIMS measurement confirms presence of DU in some samples. However, we have not noticed any traces of DU in samples containing lesser amount of uranium or from any samples from the living environment of same area.
ISSN:0094-243X
1551-7616
DOI:10.1063/1.2991228