The variability of the natural abundance of U

The possibility that the atomic ratio ²³⁵u/²³⁸U may be slightly variable due to natural nuclear chain reactions such as have been identified in Gabon, West Africa, has prompted a re-examination of very precise gas mass spectrometric isotopic ratio data from a number of laboratories. Two modal values of the isotopic ratio exist in the data. Their relative difference, 0.03%, is statistically significant. The lower mode is due principally to ores from the Colorado Plateau. This difference was recognized in 1963 by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission but the substantiating data have not been openly published. Insufficient data presently exist to attribute this difference to chemical differentiation of the uranium isotopes, presumably in the ‘sandstone’ type deposits of the Colorado Plateau, or to dilution with Precambrian ore deposits, depleted in ²³⁵U by nuclear reactions.