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Energy and Environment
Published in T.M. Aggarwal, Environmental Control in Thermal Power Plants, 2021
A nuclear reactor is only part of the life-cycle for nuclear power. The process starts with mining (see Uranium mining). Uranium mines are underground, open-pit, or in-situ leach mines. In any case, the uranium ore is extracted, usually converted into a stable and compact form such as yellowcake, and then transported to a processing facility. Here, the yellowcake is converted to uranium hexafluoride, which is then enriched using various techniques. At this point, the enriched uranium, containing more than the natural 0.7% U-235, is used to make rods of the proper composition and geometry for the particular reactor that the fuel is destined for. The fuel rods will spend about 3 operational cycles (typically 6 years total now) inside the reactor, generally until about 3% of their uranium has been fissioned, then they will be moved to a spent fuel pool where the short lived isotopes generated by fission can decay away. After about 5 years in a spent fuel pool the spent fuel is radioactively and thermally cool enough to handle, and it can be moved to dry storage casks or reprocessed.
Nuclear and Hydro Power
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Energy Security for The 21st Century, 2021
Uranium ore reserves are limited and estimated to last about 100 years, thus nuclear power is not a renewable energy source. Because of that, there are efforts to extract uranium, and other materials suitable for nuclear fuel, from other sources. Rocks like granite, contain minute amounts of uranium have been considered, but the process is cumbersome and very expensive.
The Environment Today
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Power Generation and the Environment, 2021
Like all surface or underground mining, mining ores of any type is a complex, dirty, and dangerous operation. Mining uranium ore is exceptionally dangerous because of the added danger of high-level radiation, which is extremely harmful to all living matter.
Spatial distribution and environmental risk assessment of heavy metals identified in soil of a decommissioned uranium mining area
Published in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 2020
Qin Ling, Faqin Dong, Gang Yang, Ying Han, Xiaoqin Nie, Wei Zhang, Meirong Zong
Nowadays, nuclear energy has been utilized on a large scale. Uranium, as a main fuel of nuclear energy, has been extensively exploited. However, uranium mining has caused a great quantity of environmental problems, especially uranium ores associated with heavy metals often threaten ecosystems and human health (Liu et al.2017a; Štrok and Smodiš 2010; Tuovinen et al.2015). At the same time, mining activities, such as extraction, beneficiation, and smelting of metal ores, have become the main driving factors of the global biogeochemical cycle of heavy metals. These activities have produced a large number of mine wastes which contain numerous heavy metals (Štrok and Smodiš 2013). These mine wastes probably disperse more easily and rapidly into the environment than coarser ores. Thus, inappropriate disposal of these mine wastes would result in the diffusion of heavy metals into soil, river, sediments, or the whole ecosystems (Blake et al.2015; Elnaggar et al.2018). Soils, rivers, and sediments contaminated by heavy metals are of global concern, as the damage to the ecological environment may not be fully recovered (Singh and Kumar 2017; Wang et al.2017).
Radioactivity and dose assessment of naturally occurring radionuclides in terrestrial environments and foodstuffs: a review of Bahi district, Tanzania
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2023
Dominic Parmena Sumary, Jofrey Raymond, Musa Chacha, Frimi Paul Banzi
Worldwide, the distribution of uranium ore deposits is widespread in all continents. In the year 2015, the data indicated countries with their respective uranium reserve estimates; five countries with the largest reserves in metric tons are Australia (1 780 800 tU), Kazakhstan (941 600 tU), Canada (703 600 tU), Namibia (463 000 tU) and South Africa (449 300 tU). Tanzania is ranked 19 for worldwide uranium with reserve of 72 738 tU (inferred) (Burton 2018).