A-000

URANIUM DETERMINATION BY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES IN UNDISTURBED

SOILS OF ZACATECAS, MEXICO.
Edmundo Escareño-Juarez1, Rafael Pardo Almudí1, Catalina Gazcó Leonarte2
edmundo.escareno@uaz.edu.mx
1Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valladolid, Paseo de Belén, 7, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
2CIEMAT, Av. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Introduction
Radionuclide levels in soils are usually fairly constant. Uranium is of great importance in
radiological protection and public health due to its radiotoxicity and chemotoxicity [1][2]. The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), among
others, recommend constant environmental monitoring of natural and anthropogenic
radionuclides. For this work, 33 samples of surface soil from different zones of the Zacatecas
State [3] have been analyzed, which is one of the 31 states that, together with Mexico City,
make up the United Mexican States, located in the north central region of the country.
The aim of this work is to characterize soils, determine uranium concentration by different
analytical techniques, check alterations in the isotopic ratio 238U/235U, propose a reference value
in the concentration of uranium in soil and check a possible alteration in the concentration of
uranium in the area of Villa de Cos.
Materials and methods.
XRD and XRF techniques have been used for the characterization of soil samples requiring
minimal treatment. The ICP-OES, ICP-MS and SF-ICP-MS techniques required soil digestion by
microwaves to be read in the instrument after appropriate dilutions. The radioanalytical
technique of alpha spectrometry demands total microwave digestion, radiochemical separation,
electrodeposition and reading on the instrument for 300 000 seconds [4].
Results
The samples were characterized by XRF and XRD, obtaining Si, Al, Fe, K, Na and Ca as the
main components in the form of oxides; and Sr, Zr and Ba as the main minority components.
The presence of halite crystals (NaCl) was detected in the Villa de Cos area. The results
obtained by ICP-OES were not reliable due to spectral interferences, giving very high results.
ICP-MS gave very reliable and fast results with an average concentration of 2.3 mg Kg -1, the
other analytical technique SF-ICP-MS gave an average of 2.6 mg Kg-1 with an isotopic ratio
238U/235U average of 138.86 being normal n( 238U)/n(235U) = 137.794 ± 0.027 2 [5]. Alpha

spectrometry is the standard technique for measuring actinides, but with high costs and
measurement times. The average results obtained were 2.9 mg Kg -1. It was not possible to
determine the isotopic ratio 238U/235U by alpha spectrometry, because the measurement time of
300 000 seconds is insufficient for a good 235U count statistic.
The general uranium results for all the techniques used coincide in an increase or anomaly in
the concentration of uranium (29.7 mg Kg-1) in the Villa de Cos area with respect to the general
average of the results in the rest of the samples analyzed in this work and to the average values
reported in the literature of other areas of the planet.
Conclusions
The concentration of uranium in the soil of the sampled areas is normal (2.8 mg Kg-1 is the
world average) with the exception of the Villa de Cos zone, which presents an anomalous
accumulation. The isotopic ratio 238U/235U does not demonstrate an 235U depleted or enrichment
in the area. A reference value of 2.1 mg Kg-1 of uranium is proposed for this area.
References
[1] D. A. Atwood, Ed., Radionuclides in the Environment. Wiley, 2010.
[2] M. A. McDiarmid, J. M. Gaitens, and K. S. Squibb, “Uranium and Thorium,” in Patty’s Toxicology, vol. 1, 2001,
pp. 769–816.
[3] Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal, “INAFED,” 2018. [Online]. Available:
https://www.gob.mx/inafed. [Accessed: 23-Jul-2018].
[4] Z. Karpas, Analytical Chemistry of Uranium: Environmental, Forensic, Nuclear and Toxicological Applications.
CRC Press, 2015.
[5] A. Goldmann, G. Brennecka, J. Noordmann, S. Weyer, and M. Wadhwa, “The uranium isotopic composition of
the Earth and the Solar System,” Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, vol. 148, pp. 145–158, Jan. 2015.