The minerals that are used for extracting uranium have various purities, ranging from several parts per million to few percent. Uranium extraction is economically profitable only if ores with minimum suitable purity are used, and using a uranium grade analysis system is necessary for classifying minerals and disposal of low purity ores. The uranium grade analysis system which was built in the Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute is capable to assess the uranium contents of an ore immediately with no need to perform a time consuming and costly analysis. The mechanism of this process is to detect very low gamma ray emitting from the uranium contents of deposits or ores. This device is made of two main parts, the first part is a digital balance that calculates the weight of each piece of the mine ore and the second part that consists of four detectors that detect the gamma ray emitted from the ore piece and ultimately, the registered signal according to the calculated weigh of the ore, is converted into “part per million” unit.
The most important specifications of the system are as follows:
Type of detectors: 2" diameter cylindrical NaI scintillation detector
Physical dimension: 120*60*90 cm
Maximum ore dimension: 40*40*40 cm
Weight: 1230 Kg
Precision in weight determination: 5g
Determinable weight range: 5g to 30Kg
Dynamic range of linearity: 10ppm to 20000ppm