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The amount of ultimately recoverable uranium depends strongly on what one would be willing to pay for it. Uranium is a widely distributed metal with large low-grade deposits that are not currently considered profitable. As of 2015, 646,900 tonnes of reserves are recoverable at US$40 per kilogram of uranium, while 7,641,600 tonnes of reserves ...
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.
This contains lists of countries by uranium production. The first two lists are compiled by the World Nuclear Association , and measures uranium production by tonnes mined. The last list is compiled by TradeTech, a consulting company which specializes in the nuclear fuel market.
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 ...
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]
Some of the mined uranium was found to have a lower concentration of uranium-235 than expected, as if it had already been in a nuclear reactor.When geologists investigated they also found products typical of a reactor.
Uranium-235 was the first isotope that was found to be fissile. Other naturally occurring isotopes are fissionable, but not fissile. [citation needed] On bombardment with slow neutrons, uranium-235 most of the time splits into two smaller nuclei, releasing nuclear binding energy and more neutrons.
It is best known as the world's leading source of high-grade uranium and currently supplies about 20% of the world's uranium. [1] The basin is located just to the south of Lake Athabasca, west of Wollaston Lake, and encloses almost all of Cree Lake. It covers about 100,000 square kilometres (39,000 sq mi) in Saskatchewan and a small portion of ...