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World uranium reserves in 2010. Uranium reserves are reserves of recoverable uranium, regardless of isotope, based on a set market price. The list given here is based on Uranium 2020: Resources, Production and Demand, a joint report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency. [1] Figures are given in metric ...
Uranium-235 (235 U or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists in nature as a primordial nuclide. Uranium-235 has a half-life of 703.8 million years.
The world's largest deposits of uranium are found in three countries. Australia has just over 30% of the world's reasonably assured resources and inferred resources of uranium – about 1.673 megatonnes (3.69 × 10 ^ 9 lb). [46] Kazakhstan has about 12% of the world's reserves, or about 651 kilotonnes (1.4 × 10 ^ 9 lb). [62]
The highest grade uranium deposits are found in the Athabasca Basin in Canada, including the two largest high grade uranium deposits in the world, Cigar Lake with 217 million pounds (99,000 t) U 3 O 8 at an average grade of 18% and McArthur River with 324 million pounds (147,000 t) U 3 O 8 at an average grade of 17%. These deposits occur below ...
Australia has 28% of the world's known uranium ore reserves [83] and the world's largest single uranium deposit is located at the Olympic Dam Mine in South Australia. [85] There is a significant reserve of uranium in Bakouma , a sub-prefecture in the prefecture of Mbomou in the Central African Republic .
Change of content of Uranium-235 in natural uranium; the content was 3.65% 2 billion years ago. A key factor that made the reaction possible was that, at the time the reactor went critical 1.7 billion years ago, the fissile isotope 235 U made up about 3.1% of the natural uranium, which is comparable to the amount used in some of today's reactors.
Uranium is a naturally occurring element found at low levels within all rock, soil, and water. This is the highest-numbered element to be found naturally in significant quantities on Earth. According to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation the normal concentration of uranium in soil is 300 μg/kg to 11.7 mg/kg.
The world's largest producer of uranium is Kazakhstan, which in 2019 produced 43% of the world's mining output. Canada was the next largest producer with a 13% share, followed by Australia with 12%. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Uranium has been mined in every continent except Antarctica.