PhD student Mila Kristiina Pelkonen and research scientist Estela Reinoso-Maset, both from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), and postdoctoral researcher Gianni Vettese, from the University of Helsinki (UH), have recently been at one of the newest, most advanced synchrotron facilities in the world, the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II; Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY, USA). The NMBU-UH group has an active proposal at NSLS-II and was allocated a 72-hour beamtime slot at the end of November 2022. The RadoNorm researchers crossed the Atlantic to determine the solid phase speciation of uranium in soils and sediments affected by acidic alum shale runoffs using X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Beamline for Material Measurement (6-BM). This study is part of Mila’s PhD project, which is included in Task 2.7 to identify geochemical and biological processes controlling NORM mobility. Mila was awarded a RadoNorm travel grant for support of exchange visits of PhD students and early career researchers, allowing her to take part in the measurements on site, learn about synchrotron radiation applications and get trained in a new technique towards her scientific skills as environmental radiochemist.