2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
When the radioactive elements of the periodic table were discovered, a person eventually came up with an application for them. This is what happened with uranium. It was used for both military and civilian purposes. Uranium ore was processed, the resulting element was used in the paint and varnish and glass industries. After its radioactivity was discovered, it began to be used in nuclear energy. How clean and environmentally friendly is this fuel? This is still being debated.
Natural uranium
In nature, uranium in its pure form does not exist - it is a component of ore and minerals. The main uranium ore is carnotite and pitchblende. Also, significant deposits of this strategic chemical element were found in rare earth and peat minerals - orthite, titanite, zircon, monazite, xenotime. Uranium deposits can be found in rocks with an acidic environment and high concentrations of silicon. Its companions are calcite, galena, molybdenite, etc.
World deposits and reserves
To date, many deposits have been explored in a 20-kilometer layer of the earth's surface. All of them contain a huge number of tons of uranium. This amount is capable of providing humanity with energy for many hundreds of years.forward. The leading countries in which uranium ore is in the largest volume are Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada, South Africa, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, USA, Brazil, Namibia.
Types of uranium
Radioactivity determines the properties of a chemical element. Natural uranium is made up of three of its isotopes. Two of them are the ancestors of the radioactive series. Natural isotopes of uranium are used to create fuel for nuclear reactions and weapons. Also, uranium-238 serves as a raw material for the production of plutonium-239.
Uranium isotopes U234 are daughter nuclides of U238. They are recognized as the most active and provide strong radiation. The isotope U235 is 21 times weaker, although it has been successfully used for the above purposes - it has the ability to maintain a nuclear chain reaction without additional catalysts.
In addition to natural, there are also artificial isotopes of uranium. Today there are 23 such known, the most important of them - U233. It is distinguished by the ability to activate under the influence of slow neutrons, while the rest require fast particles.
Ore classification
Although uranium can be found almost everywhere - even in living organisms - the seams that contain it can be of different types. This also depends on the methods of extraction. Uranium ore is classified according to the following parameters:
- Formation conditions - endogenous, exogenous and metamorphogenic ores.
- The nature of uranium mineralization is primary, oxidized and mixed ores of uranium.
- Aggregate size andgrains of minerals - coarse-grained, medium-grained, fine-grained, fine-grained and dispersed ore fractions.
- Usefulness of impurities - molybdenum, vanadium, etc.
- Composition of impurities - carbonate, silicate, sulfide, iron oxide, caustobiolitic.
Depending on how uranium ore is classified, there is a way to extract a chemical element from it. Silicate is processed with various acids, carbonate - with soda solutions, caustobiolitic is enriched by burning, and iron oxide is smelted in a blast furnace.
How uranium ore is mined
As in any mining business, there is a certain technology and methods for extracting uranium from rock. Everything also depends on which isotope is in the lithosphere layer. Uranium ore is mined in three ways. Economically justified isolating an element from rock is when it is contained in a volume of 0.05-0.5%. There is a mine, quarry and leaching method of extraction. The use of each of them depends on the composition of the isotopes and the depth of the rock. Quarry mining of uranium ore is possible with a shallow occurrence. The risk of exposure is minimal. There are no problems with machinery - bulldozers, loaders, dump trucks are widely used.
Mine production is more difficult. This method is used when the element occurs at a depth of up to 2 kilometers and is economically viable. The rock must contain a high concentration of uranium in order to be expediently mined. In the adit providemaximum security, this is due to the way uranium ore is mined underground. Workers are provided with overalls, the working hours are strictly limited. The mines are equipped with elevators, enhanced ventilation.
Leaching is the third method - the cleanest from an environmental point of view and the safety of employees of the mining enterprise. A special chemical solution is pumped through a system of drilled wells. It dissolves in the reservoir and becomes saturated with uranium compounds. The solution is then pumped out and sent to processing plants. This method is more progressive, it allows to reduce economic costs, although there are a number of restrictions for its application.
Deposits in Ukraine
The country turned out to be a happy owner of deposits of the element from which nuclear fuel is produced. According to forecasts, uranium ores in Ukraine contain up to 235 tons of raw materials. Currently, only deposits containing about 65 tons have been confirmed. A certain amount has already been worked out. Part of the uranium was used domestically, part was exported.
Kirovograd uranium ore region is considered to be the main deposit. The content of uranium is low - from 0.05 to 0.1% per ton of rock, so the cost of the material is high. As a result, the resulting raw materials are exchanged in Russia for finished fuel rods for power plants.
The second major deposit is Novokonstantinovskoye. The content of uranium in the rock made it possible to reduce the cost compared to the Kirovogradskoye by almost 2 times. However, development has not been carried out since the 90s, all mines are flooded. Due to the aggravation of political relations with Russia, Ukraine may be left without fuel for nuclear power plants.
Russian uranium ore
In terms of uranium mining, the Russian Federation is in fifth place among other countries in the world. The most famous and powerful are Khiagdinskoye, Kolichkanskoye, Istochnoye, Koretkondinskoye, Namarusskoye, Dobrynskoye (Republic of Buryatia), Argunskoye, Zherlovoe (Chita region). The Chita region produces 93% of all Russian uranium produced (mainly by open pit and mine methods).
Slightly different is the situation with deposits in Buryatia and Kurgan. Uranium ore in Russia in these regions is deposited in such a way that it makes it possible to extract raw materials by leaching.
In total, deposits of 830 tons of uranium are predicted in Russia, there are about 615 tons of confirmed reserves. These are also deposits in Yakutia, Karelia and other regions. Since uranium is a strategic global raw material, the figures may not be accurate, since many of the data are classified, only a certain category of people have access to them.
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