Elevated Concentrations of Primordial Radionuclides in Sediments from the Reedy River and Surrounding Creeks in Simpsonville, South Carolina Page: 6 of 18
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distribution of the radionuclides in the surrounding areas. These data augment existing
measurements of uranium and other naturally occurring radionuclides in water from
private wells in the same area (Hughes et al., 2005; SC DHEC 2004). Primordial
radionuclide concentrations were determined in river sediments collected from the
5 Reedy River and surrounding creeks near Simpsonville, SC, USA. Radionuclide
concentrations were measured ex-situ using high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy.
Results from ex-situ measurements were compared with in-situ measurements of the
surrounding area using a portable Nal:TI detector. No spatial correlation was found
between the uranium concentrations in the well waters. Thus it was hypothesized that
10 uranium exists in discrete zones and the wells tap into different fractures.
2. Materials and Methods
Sediments were collected from riverbeds using a Wildco Polar deep lake dredge,
or hand scooped on 9/28/2002 and on 3/23/2003. The sediments were dried in an air
15 oven at 1100C then passed through an ASTM #10 (2mm) sieve. Analysis was performed
on the <2mm fraction. Approximately 225 g of sediment was packed into 125 mL
Nalgene wide mouth (HDPE) containers. The containers were stored for >28 days to
attain secular equilibrium between 226Ra and 222Rn and associated daughter products.
The sediment samples were analyzed using an OrtecTM POPTOP HPGe spectrometer
20 (GMX-25190-P-S, Oak Ridge, TN). Each 125 mL sample was counted for 18,000 s. An
ANALYTICS (Atlanta, GA) calibrated sediment standard was used to determine the
efficiency calibration curve.
The gamma emitting radionuclides within the uranium, actinium, and thorium
series were used to quantify the parent radionuclide concentration via high-resolution
25 gamma-ray spectroscopic techniques. The concentration of 40K was quantified using the
1460.8 keV (f=10.7%) gamma ray. The concentration of 232Th was inferred by measuring4
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Powell, B. A.; Hughes, L. D.; Soreefan, A. M.; Falta, D.; Wall, M. & DeVol, T. A. Elevated Concentrations of Primordial Radionuclides in Sediments from the Reedy River and Surrounding Creeks in Simpsonville, South Carolina, article, December 27, 2006; Livermore, California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc889569/m1/6/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.