Chemical Challenges in the Study of Natural Radioactive Chains

Abstract

Natural radioactivity was first confirmed by chemical means, and for many years it was the only known form of radioactivity. Chemical techniques remain necessary for obtaining samples of series components on which detailed studies can be made. These techniques must contend with features peculiar to or emphasized in the natural decay series—low specific activities of long-lived parents and trace quantities of short-lived intermediates, interferences from carriers (isotopic or non-isotopic), and rapid growth of impurities in initially pure fractions. Examples of each of these features (challenges) are given.