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Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the environment, such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay products, such as radium and radon. [1]
Sample of uranium ore. Uranium ore deposits are economically recoverable concentrations of uranium within Earth's crust. Uranium is one of the most common elements in Earth's crust, being 40 times more common than silver and 500 times more common than gold. [1] It can be found almost everywhere in rock, soil, rivers, and oceans. [2]
Special nuclear materials have plutonium, uranium-233 or uranium with U 233 or U 235 that has a content found more than in nature. Source material is thorium or uranium that has a U 235 content equal to or less than what is in nature. Byproduct material is radioactive material that is not source or special nuclear material.
These two elements are generated by neutron capture in uranium ore with subsequent beta decays (e.g. 238 U + n → 239 U → 239 Np → 239 Pu). All elements beyond plutonium are entirely synthetic; they are created in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators. The half-lives of these elements show a general trend of decreasing as atomic ...
Uranium (92 U) is a naturally occurring radioactive element (radioelement) with no stable isotopes. It has two primordial isotopes, uranium-238 and uranium-235, that have long half-lives and are found in appreciable quantity in Earth's crust. The decay product uranium-234 is also found.
Finely divided uranium metal presents a fire hazard because uranium is pyrophoric; small grains will ignite spontaneously in air at room temperature. [12] Uranium metal is commonly handled with gloves as a sufficient precaution. [143] Uranium concentrate is handled and contained so as to ensure that people do not inhale or ingest it. [143]
Technetium and promethium are the only radioactive elements whose neighbours in the sense of atomic number are both stable. All available technetium is produced as a synthetic element . Naturally occurring technetium is a spontaneous fission product in uranium ore and thorium ore (the most common source), or the product of neutron capture in ...
Natural uranium (NU or U nat [1]) is uranium with the same isotopic ratio as found in nature. It contains 0.711% uranium-235, 99.284% uranium-238, and a trace of uranium-234 by weight (0.0055%). Approximately 2.2% of its radioactivity comes from uranium-235, 48.6% from uranium-238, and 49.2% from uranium-234. Natural uranium can be used to fuel ...