Age dating of uranium material as a nuclear forensic signature

South Africa has four uranium Òore provincesÓ, that have been mined over 150 years resulting in waste stockpiles. Each deposit of uranium has distinct nuclear forensics signatures, based on the ages of the provinces. Major concern of South Africa is nuclear smuggling through its borders. A Lack of a National Nuclear Forensics Library (database) of its nuclear material also has added to the problem. South Africa is thus enhancing her capabilities to interdict and attribute any nuclear material out of regulatory control within the borders, by determining the age and origin of uranium ore materials. This study determined Uranium Ð Lead (U-Pb) isotopic ratios of the uranium ore sourced from two mines and evaluated age differences between the deposits. These variations in the Uranium ore of different geologic deposits provides a unique nuclear forensic signature between different locations, which will be a new nuclear security tool for South Africa. The results show that Mine B is much younger with an age of 1.89 ± 0.04 Ga, and that for Mine A is 3.68 ± 0.67 Ga.