DIFFICULTIES IN USING 234U/238U RATIOS TO DETECT ENRICHED OR DEPLETED URANIUM

Uranium that is highly enriched in U (HEU) is also often also enriched in U because it too is a lower-mass isotope than U and thus its concentration would be preferentially increased in any mass-sensitive enrichment process. Thus the ratio U/U might be regarded as a surrogate for U/U-the usual measure of enrichment. For this reason it has been suggested that U/U measurements be used to detect contamination by HEU. The purpose of this Note is to point out that, because of alpha-recoil effects, U/U varies widely in natural systems, and for this reason it would not be a dependable indicator of the presence of HEU. The same variations would cause U/U ratios to be doubtful indicators of depleted uranium.