Nuclear radiation cleanup and uranium prospecting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9250353-B2
Application number	US-201514589150-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2015
Priority date	Jan 7, 2014
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and methods for nuclear radiation cleanup and uranium prospecting include the steps of identifying an area; collecting samples; sample preparation; identification, assay, and analysis; and relating the samples to the area.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of uranium prospecting by sampling solid surfaces, comprising the steps of:
providing a global positioning system,
identifying an area of to be sampled using said global positioning system and identifying individual locations within said area to be sampled using said global positioning system wherein the solid surfaces are in said area,
providing a laser that produces a laser beam,
collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said area with locations of said samples identified using said laser beam of said laser by directing said laser beam onto the solid surfaces to produce the samples wherein said locations of the samples within said area are retained using said global positioning system that produces retained sample locations,
analyzing said samples and producing sample results including said retained sample locations, and
relating said sample results to said locations using said global positioning system and said retained sample locations.

2. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing a map of said area using said retained sample locations by relating said retained sample locations to said area using said global positioning system.

3. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 1 wherein said step of collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said area with locations of said samples identified using said laser beam of said laser by directing said laser beam onto the solid surfaces to produce the samples wherein said locations of the samples within said area are retained using said global positioning system that produces retained sample locations includes directing said laser beam onto the solid surface thereby producing particle samples from the solid surface.

4. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 1 wherein said step of collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said area with locations of said samples identified using said laser beam of said laser by directing said laser beam onto the solid surfaces to produce the samples wherein said locations of the samples within said area are retained using said global positioning system that produces retained sample locations includes directing water onto the solid surface and directing said laser beam onto the water and onto the solid surface producing particle samples from the solid surface.

5. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 4 wherein said step of providing a laser that produces a laser beam comprises providing a laser that produces a laser beam that is a pulsed laser beam.

6. The method of radiation cleanup or uranium prospecting of claim 4 wherein said step of collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said area with locations of said samples identified using said laser beam of said laser by directing said laser beam onto the solid surfaces to produce the samples wherein said locations of the samples within said area are retained using said global positioning system that produces retained sample locations includes using a robot for collecting said samples.

7. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 6 wherein said laser is carried by said robot and said laser is used for directing said laser beam onto the solid surface producing particle samples from the solid surface.

8. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 7 wherein said laser beam is a pulsed laser beam.

9. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 1 wherein said step of collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said area with locations of said samples identified using said laser beam of said laser by directing said laser beam onto the solid surfaces to produce the samples wherein said locations of the samples within said area are retained using said global positioning system that produces retained sample locations includes using a drone for collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said area with locations of said samples identified using said laser beam of said laser by directing said laser beam onto the solid surfaces to produce the samples wherein said locations of the samples within said area are retained using said global positioning system that produces retained sample locations.

10. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 9 wherein said laser that produces a laser beam is carried by said drone.

11. The method of uranium prospecting of claim 10 further comprising the step of providing a collection device on said drone and wherein said samples are collected in said collection device.

12. A method of nuclear radiation cleanup including sampling solid surfaces, comprising the steps of:
providing a global positioning system,
identifying a radiation contaminated area of to be sampled using said global positioning system and identifying individual locations within said radiation contaminated area of to be sampled using said global positioning system wherein the solid surfaces are in said individual locations in said radiation contaminated area,
providing a robot,
providing a laser connected to said robot wherein said laser produces a laser beam,
collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said individual locations in said radiation contaminated area with said individual locations of said samples identified using said robot, said laser, said laser beam and said global positioning system by directing said laser beam onto the solid surfaces to produce the samples,
analyzing said samples and producing sample results including said individual locations of said samples, and
relating said sample results to said locations using said global positioning system.

13. The method of radiation cleanup of claim 12 further comprising providing a map of said radiation contaminated area by relating said individual locations of said samples using said global positioning system.

14. The method of radiation cleanup of claim 12 wherein said step of collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said individual locations in said radiation contaminated area with said individual locations of said samples identified includes directing said laser beam onto the solid surface producing particle samples from the solid surface.

15. The method of radiation cleanup of claim 12 wherein said step of collecting samples from the solid surfaces in said individual locations in said radiation contaminated area with said individual locations of said samples identified includes directing water onto the solid surface and directing said laser beam onto the water and the solid surface producing particle samples from the solid surface.

16. The method of radiation cleanup of claim 15 wherein said step of directing said laser beam onto the water and the solid surface producing particle samples from the solid surface comprises directing a pulsed laser beam onto the water and the solid surface producing particle samples from the solid surface.

17. The method of radiation cleanup of claim 12 wherein the nuclear radiation cleanup is cleanup of a contaminated area after detonation of a dirty bomb further comprising the step of superimposing a grid on the contaminated area and wherein said step of relating said sample results to said locations using said global positioning system comprises relating said sample results to said grid using said global positioning system.

18. The method of radiation cleanup of claim 17 further comprising generating a map of the contaminated area using said sample results related to said grid using said global positioning system.

19. The method of radiation cleanup or uranium prospecting of claim 18 wherein said ste

Assignees

• L Livermore Nat Security Llc

Inventors

• Mariella Jr Raymond P
• Dardenne Yves M

Classifications

• G01T7/02

  Collecting means for receiving or storing samples to be investigated {and possibly directly transporting the samples to the measuring arrangement; particularly for investigating radioactive fluids (sampling, preparing specimens for investigation in general G01N1/00, G01N1/02; shielded cells or rooms structurally combined with manipulatin devices G21F; measuring of chromatographically separated samples G01N30/00 - G01N30/96)} · CPC title

• G01T7/00 Primary

  Details of radiation-measuring instruments · CPC title

• G01N2001/021

  Correlating sampling sites with geographical information, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B23K26/0884 Primary

  in at least three axial directions, e.g. manipulators, robots · CPC title

• B08B7/0042

  by laser · CPC title