Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials in Uranium-Rich Coals and Associated Coal Combustion Residues from China,Environmental Science & Technology

当前位置： X-MOL 学术 › Environ. Sci. Technol. › 论文详情

Our official English website, www.x-mol.net, welcomes your feedback! (Note: you will need to create a separate account there.)

Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials in Uranium-Rich Coals and Associated Coal Combustion Residues from China
Environmental Science & Technology ( IF 11.4 ) Pub Date : 2017-11-08 00:00:00 , DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b03473
Nancy Lauer ₁ , Avner Vengosh ₁ , Shifeng Dai _{2,

3}

Affiliation

Most coals in China have uranium concentrations up to 3 ppm, yet several coal deposits are known to be enriched in uranium. Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in these U-rich coals and associated coal combustion residues (CCRs) have not been well characterized. Here we measure NORM (Th, U, ²²⁸Ra, ²²⁶Ra, and ²¹⁰Pb) in coals from eight U-rich coal deposits in China and the associated CCRs from one of these deposits. We compared NORM in these U-rich coals and associated CCRs to CCRs collected from the Beijing area and natural loess sediments from northeastern China. We found elevated U concentrations (up to 476 ppm) that correspond to low ²³²Th/²³⁸U and ²²⁸Ra/²²⁶Ra activity ratios (≪1) in the coal samples. ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra activities correlate with ²³⁸U and ²³²Th activities, respectively, and ²²⁶Ra activities correlate well with ²¹⁰Pb activities across all coal samples. We used measured NORM activities and ash yields in coals to model the activities of CCRs from all U-rich coals analyzed in this study. The activities of measured and modeled CCRs derived from U-rich coals exceed the standards for radiation in building materials, particularly for CCRs originating from coals with U > 10 ppm. Since beneficial use of high-U Chinese CCRs in building materials is not a suitable option, careful consideration needs to be taken to limit potential air and water contamination upon disposal of U- and Ra-rich CCRs.

更新日期：2017-11-09

点击分享查看原文

点击收藏

阅读更多本刊最新论文本刊介绍/投稿指南

全部期刊列表>>