The Uranium Mineral
Uranium ore is every natural concentration of mineral or minerals where uranium occurs in proportions and conditions that allow its economic exploration. It is distributed in all earth crust as element present in the majority of the rocks. It does not have a characteristic color, it can be yellow, brown, white ochre, gray… the many colors of the earth. The difference from other minerals is its physic property of emitting radioactive particles, the radioactivity used to produce heat and generate energy.
A bit of its history
After the end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, the amazing works of the scientists Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, Ernest Fermi and Otto Hahn allowed that nuclear fission could be controlled. It is the heat produced by the fission of uranium atoms that produces the vapor that moves the nuclear power plants engines, producing electric energy.
Mining and benefiting
The chemical element uranium is a white-nickel metal, little less hard than steel and can be found, in natural state, in rocky formations on the earth crust. It main commercial application is to generate electric energy, as fuel to nuclear power reactors. It is also utilized on the production of radioactive material to be used in medicine and agriculture. The prospect and research of uranium minerals seeks to locate, evaluate and measure uranium reserves. These works start with the selection of promissory areas, indicated by aerial photography, radar image and satellite analyzes.
Afterwards, field verification is done to identify the structures or favorable geological conditions. If the results are positive than prospect and research work begins.
Uranium Concentrate Mining and Production (U3O8)
In the processing plant, the uranium is extracted from the ore, purified and concentrated in the form of a yellow colored salt, known as "yellowcake".
Fuel Cycle First Stage - After the set of operations aiming to find a mine and perform its economic assessment - exploration and research - comes the definition of the location where the ore will be mined and the beginning of procedures for MINING and PROCESSING.
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