The world currently possesses about 5.5 million tons of uranium and 35 million tons yet to be mined. In particular, Australia is known to contain the highest volume of uranium worldwide, at 31% of the global total. However, in light of the limited volume of available uranium, scientists have zeroed in on seawater uranium mining given that the ocean has relatively low uranium density but high volume.
The ocean contains about 4.5 tons of uranium, or 500 times that of the land. However, extracting uranium from seawater costs much more than doing so on the ground. The PNNL and LCW successfully extracted 5 grams of uranium powder (yellowcake) from seawater in 2018 using cheap and reusable acrylic fiber. However, the uranium contained in seawater had a concentration of three parts to one billion, making it difficult to lower the overall cost.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has now switched to a new polymer film with various tubes and paths that are 300-500 nm in diameter, much like capillaries found in mammals. The research team soaked this material in amidoxime, which effectively combines with uranium ion. Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the team found that their new material yields a twenty-fold increase in uranium absorption compared to past materials.
In addition, materials that have successfully ingratiated uranium can have 98% of the attached uranium extracted through a cleaning process using hydrochloric acid. These materials can be reused, thereby effectively lowering both cost and expiration date alike.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory employee Reid Peterson indicates that, when we speak of extracting underwater uranium, the biggest challenge involved is the fact that the density of underwater uranium is relatively low, meaning this resource is uneconomical. However, this concern will likely be changed in the face of new research and its accompanying opportunity. Furthermore, 70.1% of the earth’s surface is water. The tiny amounts of uranium thus add up to much. The ocean contains 500 times as much uranium as does the land. This 4 billion ton of uranium is sufficient for the development of 1 GW nuclear fission technology for 1,000 years.
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