Assessment of rare earth elements, Th and U profile of a site for a potential coal based power plant by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Rahat Khan; Md. Shohel Parvez; Umma Tamim; Sopan Das; Mohammad Amirul Islam; Kamrun Naher; Md. Harunor Rashid Khan; Farzana Nahid; Syed Mohammod Hossain

doi:10.1515/ract-2017-2867

Article

Assessment of rare earth elements, Th and U profile of a site for a potential coal based power plant by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Rahat Khan , Md. Shohel Parvez , Umma Tamim , Sopan Das , Mohammad Amirul Islam , Kamrun Naher , Md. Harunor Rashid Khan , Farzana Nahid and Syed Mohammod Hossain

Published/Copyright: January 29, 2018

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From the journal Radiochimica Acta Volume 106 Issue 6

Abstract

To study the compositional trends of rare earth elements (REEs: La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Yb, Lu), Th and U in soil samples collected from a site for a potential coal based power plant as well as to conduct a preliminary assessment of environmental impact of the proposed power plant in terms of REEs, Th and U, we have analyzed nine soil samples by instrumental neutron activation analysis. Evaluation of data quality by repeated analysis of IAEA-Soil-7 and IAEA-SL-1 ensures a proper data base-line for the REEs, Th and U abundances of the sampling site. Chondrite-normalized abundance patterns demonstrate the heavy REEs–light rare earth elements and Th–U fractionations in our sample suite along with significant negative Eu anomaly. Thorium/U ratio in our study area ranges from 4.55 to 6.07 which is higher than that of upper continental crust. Preliminary assessment of environmental impact of the proposed power plant is evaluated by taking NIST-SRM-1633b (coal-fly-ash) as contaminant as coal-fly-ash will be the major byproduct of the power plant. Previous literature studies and our prevailing data invoke that proposed power plant will have no severe impact on soil originated biota and on human health in terms of REEs, Th and U abundances. However, the long term effect of excessive REEs, Th and U as well as the other elemental abundances originating from coal-fly-ash should also be taken into an account.

Keywords: Soil samples; instrumental neutron activation analysis; rare earth elements; thorium–uranium; preliminary impact assessment

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the technical personnel associated with this study, especially to the persons involved in the TRIGA Mark II research reactor operation at the Center for Research Reactor of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. Professor Syed M. Qaim, Editor-in-Chief of Radiochimica Acta and other anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged for their corrections and constructive comments.

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Received: 2017-8-19

Accepted: 2017-12-4

Published Online: 2018-1-29

Published in Print: 2018-6-27

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Keywords for this article

Soil samples; instrumental neutron activation analysis; rare earth elements; thorium–uranium; preliminary impact assessment