Uranium, natural
 | Natural uranium (as opposed to enriched or depleted uranium) is the product of uranium mines. Usually it is in the form of uranium oxide (U3O8, or "yellowcake"). The natural uranium production starts with extracting the ore from the ground (mining). That can be done in a variety of ways: open pit mining (the most common method in the world), underground mining, leaching (the only method in the USA). Each of the ways will have different impact; here it will be represented by an average. Next, the ore is processed by grounding and treated with various chemicals to extract the uranium oxide. To mine 1 pound of uranium (or 1.179 lb of U3O8) we need, in average, to process 522 lb ore, 2610 lb overburden rock, 521 lb mill tailings, with 5 kWh electricity, 58 kWh thermal energy. Also: about 1000 t of water per tonne of u3o8. Also: land. Also: Data for the Ranger mine from 1988/1989 to 1996/1997 suggest that each tonne of uranium oxide production requires about 320 L of kerosene, 12.7 L of amine, 460 kg of ammonia (NH3) 1.75 t of oxidant (as t MnO2), 15 t of acid (as t H2SO4), and 5.9 t of lime. | |||||||
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1 comment postedYeah this is really worthwhile & substantial post so I am also sharing some useful information with you. Natural uranium (NU) refers to refined uranium with the same isotopic ratio as found in nature. It contains 0.7 % uranium-235, 99.3 % uranium-238, and a trace of uranium-234 by weight. In terms of the amount of radioactivity, approximately 2.2 % comes from uranium-235, 48.6 % uranium-238, and 49.2 % uranium-234. Natural uranium can be used to fuel both low- and high-power reactors. Historically, graphite moderated reactors and heavy water moderated reactors have been fueled with natural uranium in the pure metal (U) or uranium dioxide (UO2) ceramic forms,however experimental fuelings with uranium trioxide (UO3) and triuranium octaoxide, (U3O8) have shown promise. The 0.72% U-235 is not sufficient to produce a self-sustaining critical chain reaction in light water reactors or nuclear weapons; these applications must use enriched uranium. In rare occasions, earlier in geologic history when U-235 was more abundant, uranium ore was found to have naturally engaged in fission, forming natural nuclear fission reactors.