Application of Uranium Radio-chronometry to Interpret Uranium Samples of Known Provenance

Radio-chronometry is an important signature in understanding the processing history of an unknown nuclear material. Knowledge of the formation of processing signatures is crucial to underpin nuclear forensic analysis. A precise concordant age from multiple chronometers gives confidence in the model age and can aid in determining processing history. Discordant chronometers can also help to refine specific processing histories where incomplete processing is known to occur. In this work we apply our rapid radiochemical methodology to materials of known provenance to further validate our capability. In these analyses we aim to study the effect of known processing history on model ages to build confidence in our understanding of the signature. We observe concordant chronometer pairs and agreement with processing history in samples where the model age assumptions are valid, such as purification by solvent extraction and specific processing techniques. This gives confidence in the utility of the analysis for forensic applications. Where discordance was observed in cast uranium metal samples, the signature was valuable for interpreting the processing history in terms of thorium and protactinium.