Research Status of Geological Traceability Analysis of Uranium Ore Concentrate

In recent years, with the development of nuclear forensic analysis technology supported by high-accuracy and high-precision analysis methods, uranium isotopes, the distribution pattern of rare earth elements (REE), Sr and Nd isotope abundances, and some impurity element contents are mainly identified as effective geographic traceability fingerprint information of uranium ore concentrate (UOC). The main technological developments include different dissolution and chemical separation methods depending on the types of UOC samples, the advanced mass spectrometry technology used in the measurement of geographic characteristics such as the content and isotopic abundance of uranium and impurities in UOC, and the UOC standard samples with the same matrix as quality control (QC) measure used in the entire process of dissolution, separation and measurement. To promote the application of nuclear chemistry and geochemistry etc. in the study of nuclear forensics, based on the research achievements in recent years, the details of development in UOC’s nuclear forensic geographic traceability analysis technology and data processing are discussed.