Uranium Speciation - from mineral to water

Following the possible transport of uranium under environmental conditions we may start with the weathering of uranium compounds in the soil or in a mining waste rock pile. The seepage water contains about 2 mg/L uranium and the speciation is mainly influenced be the formation of the dicalcium-uranyl-tricarbonate species. The input of these seepage water leads to a dilution of the uranium by about three orders of magnitude. Using the cryogenic technique in TRLFS we could also determine the uranium speciation in the river water nearby the former uranium mining area. The uranium concentration was about 2 µg/L uranium and in the river water mainly uranyl-tricarbonate species are formed.
Despite this uranium can migrate down to the groundwater. In this case uranium may come back to the food chain by the production of mineral waters. We have studied the uranium speciation in several German mineral waters with uranium concentrations between 50 ng/L and 5 µg/L. In agreement with speciation calculations the sparkling and the calcium poor waters contain uranium as uranyl-tricarbonate species, whereas the non-sparkling waters if they are rich in calcium show clearly the formation of the dicalcium-uranyl-tricarbonate species. Using cryogenic TRLFS the detection limit for uranium species was estimated to be about 50 ng/L. Additionally a Hungarian medicinical water shows a uranium concentration of 150 µg/L. Due to the high mineralisation of this water also the dicalcium-uranyl-tricarbonate species was determined.
Summarizing it can be concluded that the most natural waters contain uranium as tri-carbonate species. According to investigations of these uranium species are less hazardous than phosphate and citrate species.