![]() And small nuclear reactors are important for making radioisotopes. It is also used for marine propulsion (mostly naval). While nuclear power is the predominant use of uranium, heat from nuclear fission can be used for industrial processes. ![]() Uranium-235 is the only naturally-occurring material which can sustain a fission chain reaction, releasing large amounts of energy. Today the only substantial use for uranium is as fuel in nuclear reactors, mostly for electricity generation. This element was used in luminous paint, particularly on the dials of watches and aircraft instruments up to the 1950s, and in medicine for the treatment of disease.įor many years from the 1940s, virtually all of the uranium that was mined was used in the production of nuclear weapons, but this ceased to be the case in the 1970s. In the past, uranium was also used to colour glass (from as early as 79 AD) and deposits were once mined in order to obtain its decay product, radium. Natural uranium is a mixture of isotopes, including a small proportion of one that is fissile – readily able to fission (split) to yield vastly more energy than any combustion process. When mined, it yields a mixed uranium oxide product, U 3O 8. Uraninite, or pitchblende, is the most common uranium mineral. There are a number of locations in different parts of the world where it occurs in economically-recoverable concentrations. Being relatively soluble (in contrast to thorium), it is also found in the oceans, at an average concentration of 3 parts per billion. It occurs in most rocks in concentrations of 2 to 4 parts per million and is as common in the Earth's crust as tin, tungsten and molybdenum and about 40 times as common as silver. Uranium was discovered by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, in 1789 in the mineral pitchblende, and was named after the planet Uranus. As decay proceeds, the final product, lead, increases in relative abundance. Its radioactive decay provides the main source of heat inside the Earth, causing convection and continental drift. The Earth's uranium (chemical symbol U) was apparently formed in supernovae up to about 6.6 billion years ago (see information page on The Cosmic Origins of Uranium). The health hazards associated with uranium are much the same as those for lead.Most of the uranium used in nuclear reactors can be recycled.Depleted uranium is a by-product from enriching natural uranium to use in nuclear power reactors.Uranium occurs naturally in the Earth's crust and is mildly radioactive. It is the only element with a naturally-occurring fissile isotope.The basic fuel for a nuclear power reactor is uranium – a heavy metal able to release abundant concentrated energy.
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