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102-685: Climax Uranium Mill is a decommissioned uranium mill near Grand Junction, CO . The mill, which processed vanadium as well as uranium, was incorporated on May 11, 1950. It was constructed on city-owned property next to the Colorado River which was once the Grand Junction sugar beet mill. Climax Uranium Company gutted the former sugar beet mill, removing any remaining equipment and stabilizing weak walls, and began uranium and vanadium milling operations. The mill soon grew to be 12 buildings large and processed 2 million tons of ore, mostly for

204-528: A description of this process of reactor control). As little as 15 lb (6.8 kg) of uranium-235 can be used to make an atomic bomb. The nuclear weapon detonated over Hiroshima , called Little Boy , relied on uranium fission. However, the first nuclear bomb (the Gadget used at Trinity ) and the bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki ( Fat Man ) were both plutonium bombs. Uranium metal has three allotropic forms: The major application of uranium in

306-507: A disposal cell approximately 18 miles southeast of Grand junction was completed that spring. Reseeding and wetlands establishment was completed in August 1994. The disposal cell is 2,400 by 1,800 feet, spanning 94 acres and containing 4.4 million cubic yards of tailings and site-building materials. It is about 70 feet deep from its lowest to its highest point. The cover for the cell is designed to isolate and contain contaminated materials through

408-479: A distribution of uranium oxidation species in various forms ranging from most oxidized to least oxidized. Particles with short residence times in a calciner will generally be less oxidized than those with long retention times or particles recovered in the stack scrubber. Uranium content is usually referenced to U 3 O 8 , which dates to the days of the Manhattan Project when U 3 O 8

510-539: A few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite . Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring fissile isotope , which makes it widely used in nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons . However, because of the low abundance of uranium-235 in natural uranium (which is, overwhelmingly, mostly uranium-238), uranium needs to undergo enrichment so that enough uranium-235

612-566: A form of invisible light or rays emitted by uranium had exposed the plate. During World War I when the Central Powers suffered a shortage of molybdenum to make artillery gun barrels and high speed tool steels, they routinely used ferrouranium alloy as a substitute, as it presents many of the same physical characteristics as molybdenum. When this practice became known in 1916 the US government requested several prominent universities to research

714-741: A fuel in the nuclear power industry and in Little Boy , the first nuclear weapon used in war . An ensuing arms race during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union produced tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that used uranium metal and uranium-derived plutonium-239 . Dismantling of these weapons and related nuclear facilities is carried out within various nuclear disarmament programs and costs billions of dollars. Weapon-grade uranium obtained from nuclear weapons

816-690: A higher incidence of cancer . An excess risk of lung cancer among Navajo uranium miners, for example, has been documented and linked to their occupation. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act , a 1990 law in the US, required $ 100,000 in "compassion payments" to uranium miners diagnosed with cancer or other respiratory ailments. During the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, huge stockpiles of uranium were amassed and tens of thousands of nuclear weapons were created using enriched uranium and plutonium made from uranium. After

918-401: A large dog park, picnic shelters and tables, grills, a playground and skatepark, public restrooms, and a large outdoor amphitheater. It also has water access for fishing and a boat ramp, as well as a beach and wading areas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a Remedial Action Plan for the site in 1994, and the removal of 4.5 million cubic yards of contaminated materials from the site to

1020-497: A lesser degree uranium-233, have a much higher fission cross-section for slow neutrons. In sufficient concentration, these isotopes maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction . This generates the heat in nuclear power reactors and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons. The primary civilian use for uranium harnesses the heat energy to produce electricity. Depleted uranium ( U) is used in kinetic energy penetrators and armor plating . The 1789 discovery of uranium in

1122-448: A much more complicated and far more powerful type of fission/fusion bomb ( thermonuclear weapon ) was built, that uses a plutonium-based device to cause a mixture of tritium and deuterium to undergo nuclear fusion . Such bombs are jacketed in a non-fissile (unenriched) uranium case, and they derive more than half their power from the fission of this material by fast neutrons from the nuclear fusion process. The main use of uranium in

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1224-474: A multipart system. It is constructed of an 18-inch thick transition barrier directly over the tailings, then a 24-inch thick low-permeability radon barrier, a 24-inch thick frost protection layer, a 6-inch thick bedding layer, and capped off with a 12-inch thick riprap layer. The location for the cell was chosen because it lacks significant groundwater sources nearby and has a 700-foot thick sequence of impermeable Mancos Shale below it. Uranium Uranium

1326-459: A plutonium-based device (see Trinity test and " Fat Man ") whose plutonium was derived from uranium-238. Little Boy became the first nuclear weapon used in war when it was detonated over Hiroshima , Japan , on 6 August 1945. Exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500 tonnes of TNT , the blast and thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings and killed about 75,000 people (see Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ). Initially it

1428-634: A possibility of elevated radiation levels, with 3465 of those falling within UMTRA Project standards for remedial action and making the formal list of vicinity properties. Both the Grand Junction Disposal Site and the Grand Junction Processing Site were designated under Title I of UMTRCA for remediation. The Grand Junction Disposal Site was left open to receive contaminated materials either until it

1530-621: A private market for nuclear power and weapon development was initiated through the project's transfer from the MED to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Later, the market structure for the federal uranium procurement program was made public, creating a “prospecting and milling industry unsurpassed by any other metal during the 1950s and 1960s.” During this time, the US passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 , which enabled

1632-405: A reaction by piling together 360 tonnes of graphite , 53 tonnes of uranium oxide , and 5.5 tonnes of uranium metal, most of which was supplied by Westinghouse Lamp Plant in a makeshift production process. Two types of atomic bomb were developed by the United States during World War II : a uranium-based device (codenamed " Little Boy ") whose fissile material was highly enriched uranium , and

1734-413: A shielding material. Due to its high density, this material is found in inertial guidance systems and in gyroscopic compasses . Depleted uranium is preferred over similarly dense metals due to its ability to be easily machined and cast as well as its relatively low cost. The main risk of exposure to depleted uranium is chemical poisoning by uranium oxide rather than radioactivity (uranium being only

1836-525: A shorter half-life and so is an extinct radionuclide , having long since decayed completely to Th. Further uranium-236 was produced by the decay of Pu , accounting for the observed higher-than-expected abundance of thorium and lower-than-expected abundance of uranium. While the natural abundance of uranium has been supplemented by the decay of extinct Pu (half-life 375,000 years) and Cm (half-life 16 million years), producing U and U respectively, this occurred to an almost negligible extent due to

1938-641: A uranium mill remedial action program jointly funded by the federal government and the state. Title 1 of the Act also designated 22 inactive uranium mill sites for remediation , resulting in the containment of 40 million cubic yards of low-level radioactive material in UMTRCA Title 1 holding cells. The act was written in the "hectic final days" of the 95th U.S. Congress and contained multiple errors that made it "a nightmare of statutory construction ," and required remedial legislation to fix. The act perpetuated

2040-412: A weak alpha emitter ). During the later stages of World War II , the entire Cold War , and to a lesser extent afterwards, uranium-235 has been used as the fissile explosive material to produce nuclear weapons. Initially, two major types of fission bombs were built: a relatively simple device that uses uranium-235 and a more complicated mechanism that uses plutonium-239 derived from uranium-238. Later,

2142-535: A world total production of 48,332 tonnes. Most uranium was produced not by conventional underground mining of ores (29% of production), but by in situ leaching (66%). In the late 1960s, UN geologists discovered major uranium deposits and other rare mineral reserves in Somalia . The find was the largest of its kind, with industry experts estimating the deposits at over 25% of the world's then known uranium reserves of 800,000 tons. The ultimate available supply

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2244-552: Is malleable , ductile , slightly paramagnetic , strongly electropositive and a poor electrical conductor . Uranium metal has a very high density of 19.1 g/cm , denser than lead (11.3 g/cm ), but slightly less dense than tungsten and gold (19.3 g/cm ). Uranium metal reacts with almost all non-metallic elements (except noble gases ) and their compounds , with reactivity increasing with temperature. Hydrochloric and nitric acids dissolve uranium, but non-oxidizing acids other than hydrochloric acid attack

2346-445: Is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table . A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons , of which 6 are valence electrons . Uranium radioactively decays , usually by emitting an alpha particle . The half-life of this decay varies between 159,200 and 4.5 billion years for different isotopes , making them useful for dating

2448-523: Is a naturally occurring element found in low levels in all rock, soil, and water. It is the highest-numbered element found naturally in significant quantities on Earth and is almost always found combined with other elements. Uranium is the 48th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. The decay of uranium, thorium , and potassium-40 in Earth's mantle is thought to be the main source of heat that keeps

2550-530: Is also fissile by thermal neutrons. These discoveries led numerous countries to begin working on the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power . Despite fission having been discovered in Germany, the Uranverein ("uranium club") Germany's wartime project to research nuclear power and/or weapons was hampered by limited resources, infighting, the exile or non-involvement of several prominent scientists in

2652-520: Is believed to be sufficient for at least the next 85 years, though some studies indicate underinvestment in the late twentieth century may produce supply problems in the 21st century. Uranium deposits seem to be log-normal distributed. There is a 300-fold increase in the amount of uranium recoverable for each tenfold decrease in ore grade. In other words, there is little high grade ore and proportionately much more low grade ore available. Calcined uranium yellowcake, as produced in many large mills, contains

2754-402: Is currently no remediation strategy in place as the aquifer is considered “limited use groundwater,” meaning it is not presently used as a main source of potable water by the city of Grand Junction. The main risk to public health presented by the tailings is their production of gamma radiation along with radium-226 and radon-222 , a decay product of the former one. Outdoors, radon emitted by

2856-785: Is difficult to precipitate uranium as phosphate in the presence of excess carbonate at alkaline pH. A Sphingomonas sp. strain BSAR-1 has been found to express a high activity alkaline phosphatase (PhoK) that has been applied for bioprecipitation of uranium as uranyl phosphate species from alkaline solutions. The precipitation ability was enhanced by overexpressing PhoK protein in E. coli . Plants absorb some uranium from soil. Dry weight concentrations of uranium in plants range from 5 to 60 parts per billion, and ash from burnt wood can have concentrations up to 4 parts per million. Dry weight concentrations of uranium in food plants are typically lower with one to two micrograms per day ingested through

2958-418: Is diluted with uranium-238 and reused as fuel for nuclear reactors. Spent nuclear fuel forms radioactive waste , which mostly consists of uranium-238 and poses a significant health threat and environmental impact . Uranium is a silvery white, weakly radioactive metal . It has a Mohs hardness of 6, sufficient to scratch glass and roughly equal to that of titanium , rhodium , manganese and niobium . It

3060-541: Is estimated by the US Department of Energy that there were 300,000 tons of tailings used throughout Grand Junction between 1953 and 1966. Once the expansive spread of the tailings was recognized by the department, a house to house gamma ray survey was completed, the data of which eventually led to the amending of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954: Public Law 92-314. The law gave federal financial assistance to

3162-485: Is found in hundreds of minerals, including uraninite (the most common uranium ore ), carnotite , autunite , uranophane , torbernite , and coffinite . Significant concentrations of uranium occur in some substances such as phosphate rock deposits, and minerals such as lignite , and monazite sands in uranium-rich ores (it is recovered commercially from sources with as little as 0.1% uranium ). Like all elements with atomic weights higher than that of iron , uranium

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3264-713: Is full or in 2023. The Grand Junction Climax Mill site lies above three main hydrogeologic units. There is an unconfined aquifer directly below the site, an underlying shale aquitard within the Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone below the aquifer, and finally a confined aquifer below the shale in the Dakota Sandstone. The groundwater in these hydrogeologic units has elevated levels of both selenium and uranium according to UMTRA standards. Testing of contaminants also revealed concentrations of chloride, iron, manganese, sulfate, and total dissolved solids “above

3366-427: Is only naturally formed by the r-process (rapid neutron capture) in supernovae and neutron star mergers . Primordial thorium and uranium are only produced in the r-process, because the s-process (slow neutron capture) is too slow and cannot pass the gap of instability after bismuth. Besides the two extant primordial uranium isotopes, U and U, the r-process also produced significant quantities of U , which has

3468-424: Is present. Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons and is fertile , meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor . Another fissile isotope, uranium-233 , can be produced from natural thorium and is studied for future industrial use in nuclear technology. Uranium-238 has a small probability for spontaneous fission or even induced fission with fast neutrons; uranium-235, and to

3570-407: Is produced through the thermal decomposition of uranium halides on a hot filament. It is estimated that 6.1 million tonnes of uranium exists in ores that are economically viable at US$ 130 per kg of uranium, while 35 million tonnes are classed as mineral resources (reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction). Australia has 28% of the world's known uranium ore reserves and

3672-441: Is then calcined to remove impurities from the milling process before refining and conversion. Commercial-grade uranium can be produced through the reduction of uranium halides with alkali or alkaline earth metals . Uranium metal can also be prepared through electrolysis of KUF 5 or UF 4 , dissolved in molten calcium chloride ( CaCl 2 ) and sodium chloride ( Na Cl) solution. Very pure uranium

3774-598: Is undetermined, and the Health Department states that this may be due to either the Mill or a larger smoker population. To gain a better grasp of the scope of environment on which these tailings had impact, the 1980 Census records about 22,650 people living within two miles of the Climax Mill, while Grand Junction, the downtown of which was 13 city blocks from the mill site, was home to 62,670 inhabitants. Due to

3876-600: Is used for X-ray targets in the making of high-energy X-rays. The use of pitchblende , uranium in its natural oxide form, dates back to at least the year 79 AD, when it was used in the Roman Empire to add a yellow color to ceramic glazes. Yellow glass with 1% uranium oxide was found in a Roman villa on Cape Posillipo in the Bay of Naples , Italy, by R. T. Gunther of the University of Oxford in 1912. Starting in

3978-402: The Manhattan Project , another team led by Enrico Fermi was able to initiate the first artificial self-sustained nuclear chain reaction , Chicago Pile-1 . An initial plan using enriched uranium-235 was abandoned as it was as yet unavailable in sufficient quantities. Working in a lab below the stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago , the team created the conditions needed for such

4080-497: The Megatons to Megawatts Program . An additional 4.6 billion tonnes of uranium are estimated to be dissolved in sea water ( Japanese scientists in the 1980s showed that extraction of uranium from sea water using ion exchangers was technically feasible). There have been experiments to extract uranium from sea water, but the yield has been low due to the carbonate present in the water. In 2012, ORNL researchers announced

4182-475: The Oklo Fossil Reactors . The ore deposit is 1.7 billion years old; then, uranium-235 constituted about 3% of uranium on Earth. This is high enough to permit a sustained chain reaction, if other supporting conditions exist. The capacity of the surrounding sediment to contain the health-threatening nuclear waste products has been cited by the U.S. federal government as supporting evidence for

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4284-721: The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania , which began on 26 May 1958. Nuclear power was used for the first time for propulsion by a submarine , the USS Nautilus , in 1954. In 1972, French physicist Francis Perrin discovered fifteen ancient and no longer active natural nuclear fission reactors in three separate ore deposits at the Oklo mine in Gabon , Africa, collectively known as

4386-465: The United States (2.5%), Argentina (2.1%) and Ukraine (1.9%). In 2008, Kazakhstan was forecast to increase production and become the world's largest supplier of uranium by 2009; Kazakhstan has dominated the world's uranium market since 2010. In 2021, its share was 45.1%, followed by Namibia (11.9%), Canada (9.7%), Australia (8.7%), Uzbekistan (7.2%), Niger (4.7%), Russia (5.5%), China (3.9%), India (1.3%), Ukraine (0.9%), and South Africa (0.8%), with

4488-515: The United States Atomic Energy Commission . The mill caused contamination in an aquifer directly beneath the surface of the site. Mill tailings were allowed to be taken for civilian and construction use in the city which led to many vicinity properties with elevated radiation levels. In 1970, the mill was decommissioned and most of the contaminated materials were brought to the Grand Junction Disposal Site. Some of

4590-439: The age of the Earth . The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 (which has 146 neutrons and accounts for over 99% of uranium on Earth) and uranium-235 (which has 143 neutrons). Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten . It occurs naturally in low concentrations of

4692-604: The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, an estimated 600 short tons (540 metric tons) of highly enriched weapons grade uranium (enough to make 40,000 nuclear warheads) had been stored in often inadequately guarded facilities in the Russian Federation and several other former Soviet states. Police in Asia , Europe , and South America on at least 16 occasions from 1993 to 2005 have intercepted shipments of smuggled bomb-grade uranium or plutonium, most of which

4794-432: The oceans may contain 10  kg (2 × 10  lb). The concentration of uranium in soil ranges from 0.7 to 11 parts per million (up to 15 parts per million in farmland soil due to use of phosphate fertilizers ), and its concentration in sea water is 3 parts per billion. Uranium is more plentiful than antimony , tin , cadmium , mercury , or silver, and it is about as abundant as arsenic or molybdenum . Uranium

4896-450: The "Agreement State" program, established in 1959, in which the Atomic Energy Commission gave regulatory authority of certain nuclear materials to states. It was unclear how much regulatory power Agreement states had, and as a result these states took little regulatory action. Sites that were owned by the federal government, the NRC, or Agreement states were ineligible for remedial action under

4998-683: The 12 main buildings of the Climax Uranium Processing site were demolished between 1970 and 1971 by the Climax Uranium Company. Many vicinity properties were found to have elevated levels of radiation by UMTRA project standards and were deemed to require remedial action to mitigate the possibility of adverse health and environmental impacts. Once granted permission by Congress, the EPA and International Atomic Energy Agency became involved in environmental cleanup through

5100-547: The AEC's continuing uranium procurement projects and “made no reference to the management of mill tailings, the environmental or health effect of those tailings, or to any requirement for future restoration of processing sites.” It “only concentrated on the production and procurement of uranium, which was seen as necessary to maintain national security.” Tailings were made available for use in construction by private citizens and contractors from 1950 to 1966 before concerns were raised about

5202-718: The Act required the EPA to set environmental protection standards consistent with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act , including groundwater protection limits; the Department of Energy to implement EPA standards and provide perpetual care for some sites; and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review cleanups and license sites to states or the DOE for perpetual care. Title 1 established

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5304-539: The Climax Uranium Company. The idea for the mill precedes this transformation and begins with the World War II Manhattan Project , a development program for atomic weapons which ran from 1940 to 1945. The US Army Corps Manhattan Engineer District (MED) led the project, and in 1943 began using the Grand Junction area for uranium procurement and the processing of vanadium ore tailings it collected from vanadium mills across western Colorado. In 1946,

5406-640: The Dean of the Sapienza University of Rome , Orso Mario Corbino , named ausenium and hesperium , respectively. The experiments leading to the discovery of uranium's ability to fission (break apart) into lighter elements and release binding energy were conducted by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in Hahn's laboratory in Berlin. Lise Meitner and her nephew, physicist Otto Robert Frisch , published

5508-408: The Earth's outer core in the liquid state and drives mantle convection , which in turn drives plate tectonics . Uranium's concentration in the Earth's crust is (depending on the reference) 2 to 4 parts per million, or about 40 times as abundant as silver . The Earth's crust from the surface to 25 km (15 mi) down is calculated to contain 10  kg (2 × 10  lb) of uranium while

5610-433: The Grand Junction Disposal Site closes. The current remediation cost per ton of tailings in the Grand Junction, CO area is approximately $ 120. In 2008, the city of Grand Junction opened the mill site to be developed into a municipal park. The park was named Las Colonias Park in tribute to the early Latino communities that lived on the property before the mill was constructed. Las Colonias Park currently features bike trails,

5712-606: The Grand Junction Remedial Action Program in 1972, with the federal government covering 75% of the project's cost. To continue the process of environmental remediation , the US Department of Energy passed the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) in 1978 to ensure that disposal occurs in an environmentally sound way and that long-term stabilization is undertaken properly. Demolition of

5814-691: The Russian government approved a federal program for nuclear and radiation safety for 2016 to 2030 with a budget of 562 billion rubles (ca. 8 billion USD ). Its key issue is "the deferred liabilities accumulated during the 70 years of the nuclear industry, particularly during the time of the Soviet Union". About 73% of the budget will be spent on decommissioning aged and obsolete nuclear reactors and nuclear facilities, especially those involved in state defense programs; 20% will go in processing and disposal of nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, and 5% into monitoring and ensuring of nuclear and radiation safety. Uranium

5916-566: The bulk of the use, including common bathroom and kitchen tiles which can be produced in green, yellow, mauve , black, blue, red and other colors. Uranium was also used in photographic chemicals (especially uranium nitrate as a toner ), in lamp filaments for stage lighting bulbs, to improve the appearance of dentures , and in the leather and wood industries for stains and dyes. Uranium salts are mordants of silk or wool. Uranyl acetate and uranyl formate are used as electron-dense "stains" in transmission electron microscopy , to increase

6018-409: The civilian sector is to fuel nuclear power plants . One kilogram of uranium-235 can theoretically produce about 20  terajoules of energy (2 × 10   joules ), assuming complete fission; as much energy as 1.5 million kilograms (1,500 tonnes ) of coal . Commercial nuclear power plants use fuel that is typically enriched to around 3% uranium-235. The CANDU and Magnox designs are

6120-549: The contrast of biological specimens in ultrathin sections and in negative staining of viruses , isolated cell organelles and macromolecules . The discovery of the radioactivity of uranium ushered in additional scientific and practical uses of the element. The long half-life of uranium-238 (4.47 × 10 years) makes it well-suited for use in estimating the age of the earliest igneous rocks and for other types of radiometric dating , including uranium–thorium dating , uranium–lead dating and uranium–uranium dating . Uranium metal

6222-442: The development of uranium mining to extract the radium, which was used to make glow-in-the-dark paints for clock and aircraft dials. This left a prodigious quantity of uranium as a waste product, since it takes three tonnes of uranium to extract one gram of radium. This waste product was diverted to the glazing industry, making uranium glazes very inexpensive and abundant. Besides the pottery glazes, uranium tile glazes accounted for

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6324-465: The element very slowly. When finely divided, it can react with cold water; in air, uranium metal becomes coated with a dark layer of uranium oxide . Uranium in ores is extracted chemically and converted into uranium dioxide or other chemical forms usable in industry. Uranium-235 was the first isotope that was found to be fissile . Other naturally occurring isotopes are fissionable, but not fissile. On bombardment with slow neutrons, uranium-235 most of

6426-435: The environment surrounding the Mill, the public was prohibited from accessing leftover tailings. Still, “thousands of nearby “vicinity” properties had already been contaminated.” Further research by Colorado's Mesa County Health Department revealed the county, including Grand Junction, has a higher death rate from lung cancer than the state average, by a margin of 12.9 more people out of every 100,000. The cause for this disparity

6528-493: The feasibility to store spent nuclear fuel at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository . Above-ground nuclear tests by the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s and by France into the 1970s and 1980s spread a significant amount of fallout from uranium daughter isotopes around the world. Additional fallout and pollution occurred from several nuclear accidents . Uranium miners have

6630-503: The field and several crucial mistakes such as failing to account for impurities in available graphite samples which made it appear less suitable as a neutron moderator than it is in reality. Germany's attempts to build a natural uranium / heavy water reactor had not come close to reaching criticality by the time the Americans reached Haigerloch , the site of the last German wartime reactor experiment. On 2 December 1942, as part of

6732-468: The first sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with potassium . Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity by using uranium in 1896. Becquerel made the discovery in Paris by leaving a sample of a uranium salt, K 2 UO 2 (SO 4 ) 2 (potassium uranyl sulfate), on top of an unexposed photographic plate in a drawer and noting that the plate had become "fogged". He determined that

6834-506: The fissile component, and on 29 February 1940, Nier used an instrument he built at the University of Minnesota to separate the world's first uranium-235 sample in the Tate Laboratory. Using Columbia University 's cyclotron , John Dunning confirmed the sample to be the isolated fissile material on 1 March. Further work found that the far more common uranium-238 isotope can be transmuted into plutonium, which, like uranium-235,

6936-611: The food people eat. Worldwide production of uranium in 2021 was 48,332 tonnes , of which 21,819 t (45%) was mined in Kazakhstan . Other important uranium mining countries are Namibia (5,753 t), Canada (4,693 t), Australia (4,192 t), Uzbekistan (3,500 t), and Russia (2,635 t). Uranium ore is mined in several ways: open pit , underground , in-situ leaching , and borehole mining . Low-grade uranium ore mined typically contains 0.01 to 0.25% uranium oxides. Extensive measures must be employed to extract

7038-404: The inherent health risk of uranium mill tailings used in construction emitting radon-222 gas on properties, many homeowners suffered a financial hit by not being able to sell their homes after the use of tailings in construction or on their properties was discovered. 4,266 properties were determined to exceed the safety standards for radon emissions and considered to qualify for UMTRA clean-up. UMTRA

7140-800: The late Middle Ages , pitchblende was extracted from the Habsburg silver mines in Joachimsthal , Bohemia (now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic) in the Ore Mountains , and was used as a coloring agent in the local glassmaking industry. In the early 19th century, the world's only known sources of uranium ore were these mines. The discovery of the element is credited to the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth . While he

7242-642: The leftover tailings used in construction led to adverse health effects in civilians around the area and required major clean-up efforts and remediation by the Environmental Protection Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency. After its beginnings as a sugar beet mill in 1899, the 114 acres along the north bank of the Colorado River in Grand Valley were altered in 1950 to become the Climax Uranium Mill, owned by

7344-601: The metal from its ore. High-grade ores found in Athabasca Basin deposits in Saskatchewan , Canada can contain up to 23% uranium oxides on average. Uranium ore is crushed and rendered into a fine powder and then leached with either an acid or alkali . The leachate is subjected to one of several sequences of precipitation, solvent extraction, and ion exchange. The resulting mixture, called yellowcake , contains at least 75% uranium oxides U 3 O 8 . Yellowcake

7446-491: The military sector is in high-density penetrators. This ammunition consists of depleted uranium (DU) alloyed with 1–2% other elements, such as titanium or molybdenum . At high impact speed, the density, hardness, and pyrophoricity of the projectile enable the destruction of heavily armored targets. Tank armor and other removable vehicle armor can also be hardened with depleted uranium plates. The use of depleted uranium became politically and environmentally contentious after

7548-515: The mill removed large amounts of uranium in the ore, radium remained in the tailings . The tailings generated at the Grand Junction Climax Mill produced radon gas, "a radioactive decay product of the radium" left within the tailings. These radioactive tailings were used as construction backfill in nearby residences in sidewalks, sewer lines, and roadways and were hauled to “more than 4,000 private and commercial properties.” It

7650-413: The mill site and $ 220 million for cleaning up the vicinity properties. The Grand Junction Disposal Site is currently projected to stop accepting tailings in 2023, which would lead to an economic hit for the area. Due to the cost of safely cleaning up and transporting the tailings, it would cost the city over $ 2 million to transport a couple of years worth of tailings to the closest disposal site, Clive, after

7752-487: The mill to the city of Grand Junction for use as construction material. The tailings were used in sewer and road construction. Tailings were also made available to private citizens and contractors, who utilized them to make concrete and mortar for their homes and as filler material. The mill was decommissioned in 1970 as a result of the US Department of Energy's Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action project. Eight of

7854-422: The mineral pitchblende is credited to Martin Heinrich Klaproth , who named the new element after the recently discovered planet Uranus . Eugène-Melchior Péligot was the first person to isolate the metal, and its radioactive properties were discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel . Research by Otto Hahn , Lise Meitner , Enrico Fermi and others, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer starting in 1934 led to its use as

7956-584: The newly discovered metal itself (in fact, that powder was an oxide of uranium ). He named the newly discovered element after the planet Uranus (named after the primordial Greek god of the sky ), which had been discovered eight years earlier by William Herschel . In 1841, Eugène-Melchior Péligot , Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Central School of Arts and Manufactures) in Paris , isolated

8058-656: The only commercial reactors capable of using unenriched uranium fuel. Fuel used for United States Navy reactors is typically highly enriched in uranium-235 (the exact values are classified ). In a breeder reactor , uranium-238 can also be converted into plutonium-239 through the following reaction: Before (and, occasionally, after) the discovery of radioactivity, uranium was primarily used in small amounts for yellow glass and pottery glazes, such as uranium glass and in Fiestaware . The discovery and isolation of radium in uranium ore (pitchblende) by Marie Curie sparked

8160-487: The physical explanation in February 1939 and named the process " nuclear fission ". Soon after, Fermi hypothesized that fission of uranium might release enough neutrons to sustain a fission reaction. Confirmation of this hypothesis came in 1939, and later work found that on average about 2.5 neutrons are released by each fission of uranium-235. Fermi urged Alfred O. C. Nier to separate uranium isotopes for determination of

8262-745: The pile of tailings and rubble at the Cheney Reservoir site (now the Grand Junction Disposal Site) or the Two Road site. The environmental impact of the decommissioned uranium mill was largely grouped into two categories, the radioactive tailings remaining in civilian architecture and infrastructure and the contamination of underground aquifers. Ores procured in West Colorado are majority uranium oxides, and averaged in grade 0.28% uranium and 1.14% vanadium. While

8364-485: The possibility of adverse health effects in civilians due to exposure to the tailings. Uranium saw a price drop between 1966 and 1970, shifting from $ 8 to less than $ 6 a pound when the AEC ended its price guarantees. The Grand Junction Climax Mill was operative for 19 years and produced 2.2 million tons of radioactive tailings, according to the US Department of Energy. From the early 1950s to 1966, Climax donated approximately 300,000 tons of radioactive uranium tailings from

8466-557: The possibility that these organisms could be used in bioremediation to decontaminate uranium-polluted water. The proteobacterium Geobacter has also been shown to bioremediate uranium in ground water. The mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices increases uranium content in the roots of its symbiotic plant. In nature, uranium(VI) forms highly soluble carbonate complexes at alkaline pH. This leads to an increase in mobility and availability of uranium to groundwater and soil from nuclear wastes which leads to health hazards. However, it

8568-508: The secondary drinking water standards established in the Safe Drinking Water Act .” The city of Grand Junction does not currently use the groundwater in the aquifer as a water source because “widespread, ambient contamination not due to activities involving residual radioactive materials from a designated processing site exists that cannot be cleaned up using treatment methods reasonably employed in public water systems.” There

8670-550: The shorter half-lives of these parents and their lower production than U and Pu, the parents of thorium: the Cm/ U ratio at the formation of the Solar System was (7.0 ± 1.6) × 10 . Some bacteria, such as Shewanella putrefaciens , Geobacter metallireducens and some strains of Burkholderia fungorum , use uranium for their growth and convert U(VI) to U(IV). Recent research suggests that this pathway includes reduction of

8772-509: The soluble U(VI) via an intermediate U(V) pentavalent state. Other organisms, such as the lichen Trapelia involuta or microorganisms such as the bacterium Citrobacter , can absorb concentrations of uranium that are up to 300 times the level of their environment. Citrobacter species absorb uranyl ions when given glycerol phosphate (or other similar organic phosphates). After one day, one gram of bacteria can encrust themselves with nine grams of uranyl phosphate crystals; this creates

8874-509: The stabilization of political and economical turmoil of the early 1990s. For example, in 1993 there were 29 incidents ranking above level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale , and this number dropped under four per year in 1995–2003. The number of employees receiving annual radiation doses above 20 mSv , which is equivalent to a single full-body CT scan , saw a strong decline around 2000. In November 2015,

8976-453: The state of Colorado for remedial action related to tailings and their negative health effects. The amendment led to the initiation of the Grand Junction Remedial Action Program (GJRAP) in the early 1970s, led by the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1986, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was issued regarding the persistent problems at the site and methods and alternatives for remediation. Approximately 6905 properties were found to have

9078-515: The successful development of a new absorbent material dubbed HiCap which performs surface retention of solid or gas molecules, atoms or ions and also effectively removes toxic metals from water, according to results verified by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory . In 2005, ten countries accounted for the majority of the world's concentrated uranium oxides: Canada (27.9%), Australia (22.8%), Kazakhstan (10.5%), Russia (8.0%), Namibia (7.5%), Niger (7.4%), Uzbekistan (5.5%),

9180-444: The tailings is dispersed into the atmosphere. Indoors, radon emitted from tailings used in construction accumulates. Long-term exposure to these products can cause cancer, genetic mutations, and other adverse health effects. These health effects were documented before the decommissioning of the Climax Mill by the AEC and MED programs during research of the atomic bomb. However, when a 1966 study discovered increased amounts of radon-222 in

9282-403: The three remaining buildings of the Climax Uranium Processing site, excluding the sugar beet warehouse which was sold to the private sector, was carried out in 1989. The sugar beet warehouse was sold to a non-governmental party after being properly cleaned and sits on private property to this day. Any equipment that could be decontaminated was sold and anything that couldn't be cleaned was buried in

9384-513: The time splits into two smaller nuclei , releasing nuclear binding energy and more neutrons. If too many of these neutrons are absorbed by other uranium-235 nuclei, a nuclear chain reaction occurs that results in a burst of heat or (in some circumstances) an explosion. In a nuclear reactor, such a chain reaction is slowed and controlled by a neutron poison , absorbing some of the free neutrons. Such neutron absorbent materials are often part of reactor control rods (see nuclear reactor physics for

9486-727: The use of such munitions by the US, UK and other countries during wars in the Persian Gulf and the Balkans raised questions concerning uranium compounds left in the soil (see Gulf War syndrome ). Depleted uranium is also used as a shielding material in some containers used to store and transport radioactive materials. While the metal itself is radioactive, its high density makes it more effective than lead in halting radiation from strong sources such as radium . Other uses of depleted uranium include counterweights for aircraft control surfaces, as ballast for missile re-entry vehicles and as

9588-528: The use of uranium in manufacturing and metalwork. Tools made with these formulas remained in use for several decades, until the Manhattan Project and the Cold War placed a large demand on uranium for fission research and weapon development. A team led by Enrico Fermi in 1934 found that bombarding uranium with neutrons produces beta rays ( electrons or positrons from the elements produced; see beta particle ). The fission products were at first mistaken for new elements with atomic numbers 93 and 94, which

9690-542: The whole facility (later, the town of Arco became the first in the world to have all its electricity come from nuclear power generated by BORAX-III , another reactor designed and operated by Argonne National Laboratory ). The world's first commercial scale nuclear power station, Obninsk in the Soviet Union , began generation with its reactor AM-1 on 27 June 1954. Other early nuclear power plants were Calder Hall in England, which began generation on 17 October 1956, and

9792-680: The world's largest single uranium deposit is located at the Olympic Dam Mine in South Australia . There is a significant reserve of uranium in Bakouma , a sub-prefecture in the prefecture of Mbomou in the Central African Republic . Some uranium also originates from dismantled nuclear weapons. For example, in 1993–2013 Russia supplied the United States with 15,000 tonnes of low-enriched uranium within

9894-431: Was a voluntary program, leading to approximately 340 property owners refusing clean-up efforts on their properties. Properties that were uninhabited or well-ventilated to prevent radon accumulation were left untouched. In December 1991, it was estimated that the cost of removing the tailings and transporting them by truck to the Grand Junction Disposal Site would reach a total of $ 420 million, with $ 200 million for cleaning up

9996-588: Was believed that uranium was relatively rare, and that nuclear proliferation could be avoided by simply buying up all known uranium stocks, but within a decade large deposits of it were discovered in many places around the world. The X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, formerly known as the Clinton Pile and X-10 Pile, was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor (after Enrico Fermi's Chicago Pile) and

10098-556: Was from ex-Soviet sources. From 1993 to 2005 the Material Protection, Control, and Accounting Program , operated by the federal government of the United States , spent about US$ 550 million to help safeguard uranium and plutonium stockpiles in Russia. This money was used for improvements and security enhancements at research and storage facilities. Safety of nuclear facilities in Russia has been significantly improved since

10200-491: Was the first reactor designed and built for continuous operation. Argonne National Laboratory 's Experimental Breeder Reactor I , located at the Atomic Energy Commission's National Reactor Testing Station near Arco, Idaho , became the first nuclear reactor to create electricity on 20 December 1951. Initially, four 150-watt light bulbs were lit by the reactor, but improvements eventually enabled it to power

10302-526: Was used as an analytical chemistry reporting standard. Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (1978) is a United States environmental law that amended the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to establish health and environmental standards for the stabilization, restoration , and disposal of uranium mill waste . Title 1 of

10404-454: Was working in his experimental laboratory in Berlin in 1789, Klaproth was able to precipitate a yellow compound (likely sodium diuranate ) by dissolving pitchblende in nitric acid and neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide . Klaproth assumed the yellow substance was the oxide of a yet-undiscovered element and heated it with charcoal to obtain a black powder, which he thought was

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