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Undeclared uranium hitches a ride on cobalt exports from Congo, study says
Philippe (left) and Manzuk quantified the amount of uranium that has been exported from the DRC in cobalt shipments or left behind in the environment. (Photo: Joel Hallberg/UW–Madison)
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University have published a study in Nature Communications that calls attention to a blind spot in nuclear nonproliferation: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has exported thousands of metric tons of uranium, and there is no accounting for where it has gone.
In partnership with Lighthouse Reports and the Financial Times, UW–Madison nuclear engineering professor and nuclear security expert Sébastien Philippe and Ryan Manzuk, a geologist and research fellow in Philippe’s group and at Princeton, conducted the study using countrywide mineralization and geochemical data.
Kuniki Hata, Hiroyuki Inoue, Takao Kojima, Akihiro Iwase, Shigeki Kasahara, Satoshi Hanawa, Fumiyoshi Ueno, Takashi Tsukada
Nuclear Technology | Volume 193 | Number 3 | March 2016 | Pages 434-443
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-32
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Gamma radiolysis experiments on solutions of a mixture of sodium chloride (NaCl) and sodium bromide (NaBr) were conducted to confirm the validity of radiolysis calculations for simulated seawater solutions and to determine the importance of bromide anion (Br−) in the production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) via water radiolysis. The H2O2 concentration in each solution was measured after irradiation and compared with that obtained from radiolysis calculations. It was found that the calculated and experimental results were in good agreement. The concentration of H2O2 in a 0.6 M NaCl solution increased approximately three times on the addition of 1 mM NaBr. The result showed that Br− plays an important role in the production of H2O2 by water radiolysis, presumably through the reactions of Br− with hydroxyl radical (●OH). For 1 mM NaCl solutions, there is a minimum production rate of H2O2 at pH 8, which increases when the pH changes to either lower or higher values. It was considered that the hydrated electron also plays an important role in H2O2 production under these acidic and alkaline conditions.