Origin assessment of uranium ore concentrates based on their rare-earth elemental impurity pattern

摘要

The rare-earth element pattern was used as an additional tool for the identification and origin assessment of uranium ore concentrates (yellow cakes) for nuclear forensic purposes By this means, the source of an unknown material can be straightforwardly verified by comparing the pattern with that of a known or declared sample In contrast to other indicators used for nuclear forensic studies, the provenance of the material can also be assessed in several cases even if no comparison sample is available due to the characteristic pattern The milling process was found not to change the pattern and no significant elemental fractionation occurs between the rare-earth elements, thus the pattern in the yellow cakes corresponds to that found in the uranium ore.