1. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Khalid M. Abumurad Department of Physics, Yarmouk University P. O. Box 566, 21163 Irbid, Jordan Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24 th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

2. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Objective: Concentration of uranium in oil shale in Jordan never studied before. This study will investigate: uranium content of Jordanian oil shale using thermal neutrons and fission fragments etch pits recorded on CR-39 detectors. Other natural activity from Th-series and K. Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

3. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Introdution Uranium is ubiquitous on the Earth. It is a metal approximately as common as tin or zinc, and it is a constituent of most rocks and even of the sea. Some typical concentrations are: (ppm = parts per million). Very high-grade ore (Canada) - 20% U, 200,000 ppm High-grade ore - 2% U,20,000 ppm Low-grade ore - 0.1% U,1,000 ppm Very low-grade ore* (Namibia) - 0.01% U100 ppm Granite: 4-5 ppm Sedimentary rock: 2 ppm Earth's continental crust (av): 2.8 ppm Seawater: 0.003 ppm

4. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds), from which technology can extract liquid hydrocarbons. sedimentary rockkerogenchemical compoundshydrocarbons Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

5. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Oil shale is available in Jordan in large quantities with high proportion of minerals. The estimated national reserve of oil shale is approximately 50 billion tonnes [1]. Russell, P. L. Oil shale’s of the world; their origin, occurrence and exploitation. – Oxford: Pergamon Press; 1990. Jordanian shales are generally of quite good quality, with relatively low ash and moisture content. Gross calorific value (7.5 MJ/kg) and oil yield (8-12%) are on a par with those of western Colorado (USA) shale; however, Jordanian shale has exceptionally high sulphur content (up to 9% by weight of the organic content). The reserves are exploitable by opencast mining and are easily accessible. Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

6. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Location: There are more than 23 known surface and near surface deposits, eight of which namely, El-Lajjun, Sultani, Jurf Ed-Darawish, Attarat Um El-Ghudran, Wadi Maghar, Siwaga, Khan El-Zabib and El-Thamad were investigated by NRA (Natural Resources Authority-Jordan) at different levels. The major deposits of commercial scale interest are located south of Amman in central Jordan and are easily accessible from the desert highway between Amman and Aqaba. See Map Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

7. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

8. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Experimental procedure : Oil shale samples were collected from eight locations (El-Lajjun, Sultani, Jurf Ed-Darawish, Attarat Um El-Ghudran, Wadi Maghar, Siwaga, Khan El-Zabib and El-Thamad). These samples were powdered to fine paricles (~ 128 µm). One gram was taken from each studied and standard (from IAEA) samples and each was mixed with small quantities of pure starch as a binder.The mixture was compressed in the form of pellets with 2cm diameter and 2mm thickness. The pellets were sandwiched between two pieces (1.5x1.5cm 2 ) of CR-39 detectors. The sandwiched pellets were irradiated by thermal neutrons from Am-Be neutron source of flux 4.62x10 5 n/cm 2.s for 20 days. The irradiated detectors were chemically etched with 6.25N NaOH solution at 70 o C for 8 h. The etched detectors were washed, cleaned, dried and then counted under an optical microscope. Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

9. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Results and Discussion: The relation between track density in CR-39 detectors and uranium concentration in the standard samples is show in the following figure (Fig. 1) Figure 1. Calibration curve. slope = T s /C s = Sensitivity (# of pits/mm 2 )/ppm. Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

10. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Uranium concentration, C x, in the unknown oil shale samples was calculated using the following relation: C x = T x C s / T s = T x / (T s /C s ) = T x / slope. The following table summarizes the U – concentrations in the oil shale samples collected from different locations: Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy U–concentration (ppm) Track Density (#/mm 2 )Location 31.4 ± 5.31167 ± 198El-Lajjun 12.3 ± 2.5457 ± 73Sultani 9.8 ± 1.5364 ± 62Jurf Ed-Darawish 16.7 ± 2.2620 ± 112Attarat Um El-Ghudran 12.5 ± 1.8465 ± 74Wadi Maghar 9.7 ± 1.6361 ± 61Swaga 28.1 ± 4.21045 ± 157Khan El-Zabib 41.6 ± 5.81546 ± 218El-Thamad 20.3 ± 3.0753 ±113Average

11. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

12. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Average uranium concentration in rocks of some countries Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy ReferenceAv. U – Concentration (ppm)Country (Yegingil & Goksu, 1990)6.7Turkey (Tawfiq, 1996)5.5Iraq (Iyer & Chaudhuri, 1997)7.4India (Gamboa et al, 1984)5.9Mexico This work20.3Jordan (oil Skale)

13. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Conclusions: Uranium content of studied oil shale sample is low compared to phosphate U-content. The byproduct (ash) going to have even lower concentration of uranium because most of the U- compounds are soluble in water. Other natural radioactivity (from Th-series and K) will be washed away, since all K – compounds and most of Th – compounds are also soluble in water. (Submitted to the J. of Radiat. Meas.). Ashes from shale oil industry are, radiologically safe to be used in building materials.. Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

14. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Thanks for your attention Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

16. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

17. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

18. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

19. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

20. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy

21. Determination of uranium concentration in Jordanian oil shale using fission fragments techniques with CR-39 Department of Physics, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, JORDAN 24th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids, 1 – 5 Sept. 2008, Bologna, Italy