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Uranium and Thorium Resources

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Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology

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Definition of the Subject

Uranium is a widely distributed element which is essential, at least in the near term, to the use of nuclear fission as a source of energy. Uranium is ubiquitous in the Earth because of the wide variety of minerals in which it can occur and because of the variety of geophysical and geochemical processes that have transported it since the primordial formation of the Earth from the debris of supernovae. Uranium is approximately as common in the Earth’s crust as tin or beryllium and is a minor constituent in most rocks and in seawater. The average crustal abundance of uranium is 2.76 weight parts per million (wppm), higher than the average concentrations of such economically important elements as molybdenum (1.5 wppm), iodine (0.5 wppm), mercury (0.08 wppm), silver (0.07 wppm), and gold (0.004 wppm).

Introduction

Beginning with the discovery of nuclear fission, uranium has been seen as a valuable but scarce resource. Uranium-235 (235U) is the only naturally...

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Abbreviations

Cross section:

Probability of neutron interaction with a nucleus, expressed in terms of area, in units of barns (b). One barn equals 1.0 × 10−24 cm2.

Enrichment:

The fraction of an isotope, usually fissile 235U, in a mass of uranium. Enrichment is commonly quoted as the weight percent of the particular isotope. Natural uranium has an enrichment of 0.711 wt%, commercial reactor fuel is 3–5 % enriched, and depleted uranium is 0.2–0.3 % 235U.

Enrichment tails (also depleted uranium):

The uranium remaining after the enrichment of natural uranium into fuel, today about 0.3 % 235U and earlier 0.2–0.25 % 235U.

Fractionation:

Crystallization from a magma in which the initial crystals are prevented from equilibrating from the parent liquid, resulting in a series of residual liquids of more extreme composition than would have resulted from continuous reaction [1].

Geoneutrino:

An electron antineutrino emitted within the Earth in the β-decay of 232Th, 238U, or 40K and their decay product nuclei.

Highly enriched uranium (HEU):

Uranium containing more than 20 wt% 235U.

Jth :

Joule (i.e., watt-second) thermal. One British thermal unit (BTU) equals 1,055 Jth.

Low-enriched uranium (LEU):

Uranium containing less than 20 wt% 235U.

Log-normal distribution:

A distribution of the form \( f(x)={e}^{-{\left(1\mathrm{n}\;x\right)}^2} \). In the present usage, the tonnage of an element available at concentration c, T(c), is given by \( T(c)={C}_1{e}^{-{\left(1\mathrm{n}\ {c}_o-1\mathrm{n}\;c\right)}^2} \), where c o is the average crustal abundance and C 1 is a constant.

Mafic:

Composed chiefly of dark ferromagnesian minerals.

MOX:

Mixed oxide fuel, usually consisting of a ceramic mixture of uranium dioxide and plutonium dioxide.

MSWU:

Mega-separative work unit, a million separative work units. A separative work unit is the separative work that must be done to one kilogram of a mixture of isotopes to change its separation potential by one unit. The separation potential, a dimensionless function, is defined by \( \phi \left({x}_k\right)=\left(2{x}_k-1\right)1\mathrm{n}\ \frac{x_k}{1-{x}_k} \), where x k is the atomic fraction of the isotope, k. See Benedict [2], p. 667, for a more complete definition [2].

Pegmatite:

An exceptionally coarse-grained igneous rock, with interlocking crystals, often found at the margins of batholiths.

Placer:

A mineral deposit at the surface formed by sedimentary concentration of heavy mineral particles from weathered debris.

Quad:

Quadrillion (i.e., 1015, also written 1E15) British thermal units. \( \mathrm{One}\ \mathrm{quad}=1.055\times {10}^{18}{\mathrm{J}}_{\mathrm{th}}. \)

t :

Metric ton, also used in Mt, million metric tons, and Tt, trillion metric tons (teratons).

Unconformity:

A break or gap in the geologic record, such as an interruption in the normal sequence of deposition of sedimentary rocks, or a break between eroded metamorphic rocks and younger sedimentary strata [1].

Yellowcake:

A concentrate of uranium ore, containing 80–90 % U3O8. Yellowcake ranges from yellow to black, depending on impurities, processing temperature, and degree of hydration [3]. Although uranium prices are sometimes colloquially cited as “dollars per pound of yellowcake,” the actual prices are $ per lb of U3O8, where all of the uranium are assumed to be present in the yellowcake as that of oxide.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory Fellow (ret.), Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, 83402, USA

    J. Stephen Herring

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Correspondence to J. Stephen Herring .

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  1. Ramtech Ltd., Larkspur, California, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

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Herring, J.S. (2016). Uranium and Thorium Resources. In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2493-6_21-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2493-6_21-3

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