Uranium is a
chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements cannot be broken down into simp ...
with the
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word
In linguistics, a word of a spoken language can be defined as the smallest sequence of phonemes that can be uttered in isolation with semantic, objective or pragmatics, practical meaning (linguistics), m ...
U and
atomic number
300px, The Rutherford–Bohr model of the hydrogen atom () or a hydrogen-like ion (). In this model it is an essential feature that the photon energy (or frequency) of the electromagnetic radiation emitted (shown) when an electron jumps from one ...
92. It is a silvery-grey
metal
A metal (from Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece
Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country located in Southeast Europe. Its population is appro ...

in the
actinide
The actinoid (, also called actinide ) series encompasses the 15 metallic s with s from 89 to 103, through . The actinoid series derives its name from the first element in the series, actinium. The informal chemical symbol An is used in gener ...
series of the
periodic table
The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of (the) chemical elements, is a tabular display of the chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemistry
Chemistry is ...

. A uranium atom has 92
proton
A proton is a subatomic particle, symbol or , with a positive electric charge of +1''e'' elementary charge and a mass slightly less than that of a neutron. Protons and neutrons, each with masses of approximately one atomic mass unit, are collecti ...

s and 92
electron
The electron is a subatomic particle (denoted by the symbol or ) whose electric charge is negative one elementary charge. Electrons belong to the first generation (particle physics), generation of the lepton particle family,
and are general ...

s, of which 6 are
valence electron
In chemistry and physics, a valence electron is an electron in the outer shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure)A shell is a type of structural element which is characterized by its geometry, being a three-dimension ...
s. Uranium is weakly
radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus
The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of s and s ...

because all
isotopes of uranium
Uranium (92U) is a naturally occurring radioactive element that has no stable isotope. It has two primordial isotopes, uranium-238 and uranium-235, that have long half-lives and are found in appreciable quantity in the Earth's crust. The decay prod ...
are unstable; the
half-lives
Half-life (symbol ''t''1⁄2) is the time required for a quantity to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents a ...
of its naturally occurring isotopes range between 159,200 years and 4.5 billion years. The most common isotopes in
natural uranium
Natural uranium (NU, Unat) refers to uranium
Uranium is a chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and ...
are
uranium-238
Uranium-238 (238U or U-238) is the most common Isotopes of uranium, isotope of uranium found in nature, with a relative abundance of 99%. Unlike uranium-235, it is non-fissile, which means it cannot sustain a chain reaction in a thermal-neutron r ...
(which has 146
neutron
The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons behav ...

s and accounts for over 99% of uranium on Earth) and
uranium-235
Uranium-235 (235U) is an Isotopes of uranium, 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 th ...

(which has 143 neutrons). Uranium has the highest
atomic weight
Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A'') or atomic weight is a dimensionless physical quantity
A physical quantity is a physical property of a material or system that can be Quantification (science), quantified by measurement. A physical quantity ca ...
of the
primordially occurring elements. Its
density
The density (more precisely, the volumetric mass density; also known as specific mass), of a substance is its per unit . The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter ), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also ...

is about 70% higher than that of
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate h ...

, and slightly lower than that of
gold
Gold is a chemical element
Image:Simple Periodic Table Chart-blocks.svg, 400px, Periodic table, The periodic table of the chemical elements
In chemistry, an element is a pure substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numb ...

or
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element
Image:Simple Periodic Table Chart-blocks.svg, 400px, Periodic table, The periodic table of the chemical elements
In chemistry, an element is a pure substance consisting only of atoms that all have ...

. It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few
parts per million
In science
Science (from the Latin word ''scientia'', meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that Scientific method, builds and Taxonomy (general), organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictio ...
in soil, rock and water, and is commercially
extracted from uranium-bearing
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

s such as
uraninite
Uraninite, formerly pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom ...
.
In nature, uranium is found as uranium-238 (99.2739–99.2752%), uranium-235 (0.7198–0.7202%), and a very small amount of
uranium-234
Uranium-234 (234U, U-234) is an isotope of uranium. In natural uranium
Natural uranium (NU, Unat) refers to uranium
Uranium is a chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemist ...

(0.0050–0.0059%). Uranium decays slowly by emitting an
alpha particle
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two proton
A proton is a subatomic particle, symbol or , with a positive electric charge of +1''e'' elementary charge and a mass slightly less than that of a neutron. Proton ...

. The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47
billion
A billion is a number with two distinct definitions:
*1,000,000,000
1,000,000,000 (one billion, short scale; one thousand million or milliard, yard, long scale) is the natural number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are those used for ...
years and that of uranium-235 is 704
million
One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are those used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and total order, ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' l ...

years, making them useful in dating the
age of the Earth
The age of Earth is estimated to be 4.54 ± 0.05 1,000,000,000, billion years This age may represent the age of the Earth's accretion (astrophysics), accretion, or core formation, or of the material from which the Earth formed. This dating is b ...
.
Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique
nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring
fissile
In nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, veh ...
isotope
Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number
300px, The Rutherford–Bohr model of the hydrogen atom () or a hydrogen-like ion (). In this model it is an essential feature that the photon energy (or frequency) of ...
, which makes it widely used in
nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (sometimes abbreviated as NPP) is a thermal power station
A thermal power station is a power station in which heat energy is converted to electricity. Typically, fuel is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to ...

s and
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon (also known as an atom bomb, atomic bomb, nuclear bomb or nuclear warhead, and colloquially as an A-bomb or nuke) is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics and nucl ...
s. However, because of the tiny amounts found in nature, uranium needs to undergo
enrichment so that enough uranium-235 is present. Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is
fertile
Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified Demography, demographicall ...
, meaning it can be
transmuted to fissile
plutonium-239
Plutonium-239 (239Pu, Pu-239) is an isotope
Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element which differ in neutron number, and consequently in nucleon number. All isotopes of a given element have the same number of protons but differe ...

in a
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor, formerly known as an atomic pile, is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction
300px, A possible nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron">uranium-235.html" ;"ti ...

. Another fissile isotope,
uranium-233
Uranium-233 (233U) is a fissile Isotopes of uranium, isotope of uranium that is bred from thorium-232 as part of the thorium fuel cycle. Uranium-233 was investigated for use in nuclear weapons and as a Nuclear fuel, reactor fuel. It has been use ...

, can be produced from natural
thorium
Thorium is a weakly radioactive decay, radioactive metallic chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderatel ...

and is studied for future industrial use in nuclear technology. Uranium-238 has a small probability for
spontaneous fission
Spontaneous fission (SF) is a form of radioactive decay
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by r ...
or even induced fission with fast neutrons; uranium-235 and to 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
300px, A possible nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron">uranium-235.html" ;"title="nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235">nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron, ...
. This generates the heat in nuclear power reactors, and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Depleted uranium
Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium
Uranium is a chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemistry
Chemistry is ...
(
238U) is used in
kinetic energy penetrator
A kinetic energy penetrator (KEP, KE weapon, long-rod penetrator or LRP) is a type of ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expenda ...
s and
armor plating
Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, missile
In military terminology, a missile, also known as a guided missile or guided rocket, is a missile guidanc ...
.
[.] Uranium is used as a colorant in
uranium glass
Uranium glass is glass
Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent amorphous solid, that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glas ...

, producing lemon yellow to green colors. Uranium glass fluoresces green in ultraviolet light. It was also used for tinting and shading in early
photography
Photography is the art
Art is a diverse range of (products of) human activities
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most populous and widespread species of primates, characterized by bipedality, opposable thumbs, hairlessness, and int ...

.
The 1789
discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation)
Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something previously unrecognized as meaningful. With reference to sciences and academic disciplines
An academic discipline or academic fi ...
of uranium in the mineral
pitchblende
Uraninite, formerly pitchblende, is a radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus
The atomic nucleus ...
is credited to
Martin Heinrich Klaproth
Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1 December 1743 – 1 January 1817) was a German chemist. He trained and worked for much of his life as an apothecary, moving in later life to the university. His shop became the second-largest apothecary in Berlin, and t ...

, who named the new element after the recently discovered planet
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus, who, according to Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and ...

.
Eugène-Melchior Péligot was the first person to isolate the metal and its radioactive properties were discovered in 1896 by
Henri Becquerel
Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie (Mar ...

. Research by
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language ...

,
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner ( , ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physics, physicist who contributed to the discoveries of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. While working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute on radioactivit ...

,
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 - 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...

and others, such as
J. Robert Oppenheimer starting in 1934 led to its use as a fuel in the
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its Motion (physics), ...

industry and in ''
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename for the type of atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon (also known as an atom bomb, atomic bomb, nuclear bomb or nuclear warhead, and colloquially as an A-bomb or nuke) is an explosive device that derives its destructiv ...

'', the
first nuclear weapon used in war. An ensuing
arms race
An arms race occurs when two or more groups compete in increases in military personnel and materiel. Simply defined as a competition between two or more State (polity), states to have superior armed forces; a competition concerning production o ...
during the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical
Geopolitics (from Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece
Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country loc ...
between the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a that spanned during its existence from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a of multiple national ; in practice and were highly until its final years. The ...
produced tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that used uranium metal and uranium-derived
plutonium-239
Plutonium-239 (239Pu, Pu-239) is an isotope
Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element which differ in neutron number, and consequently in nucleon number. All isotopes of a given element have the same number of protons but differe ...

. The security of those weapons is closely monitored. Since around 2000, plutonium obtained by dismantling cold war era bombs is used as fuel for nuclear reactors. The development and deployment of these
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor, formerly known as an atomic pile, is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction
300px, A possible nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron">uranium-235.html" ;"ti ...

s continue on a global base as they are powerful sources of CO
2-free energy.
Characteristics

When
refined, uranium is a silvery white, weakly radioactive
metal
A metal (from Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece
Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country located in Southeast Europe. Its population is appro ...

. It has a
Mohs hardness
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness () is a Qualitative property, qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material.
The scale was creat ...
of 6, sufficient to scratch glass and approximately equal to that of
titanium
Titanium is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical ele ...

,
rhodium
Rhodium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion, corrosion-resistant, and chemically inert transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the pla ...

,
manganese
Manganese is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical e ...

and
niobium
Niobium, also known as columbium, is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Nb (formerly Cb) and atomic number 41. Niobium is a light grey, crystalline, and ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs scale of mineral har ...

. It is
malleable
Ductility is a mechanical property commonly described as a material's amenability to drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically a ...
,
ductile
Ductility is a mechanical property commonly described as a material's amenability to drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically a ...

, slightly
paramagnetic
Paramagnetism is a form of magnetism
Magnetism is a class of physical attributes that are mediated by magnetic field
A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, a ...
, strongly
electropositive
Electronegativity, symbolized as '' χ'', is the tendency of an atom
An atom is the smallest unit of ordinary matter
In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. ...

and a poor
electrical conductor
In physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its Motion (physics), motion and behavior through Spacetime, space and time, and the related entities of energy and force ...
.
Uranium metal has a very high
density
The density (more precisely, the volumetric mass density; also known as specific mass), of a substance is its per unit . The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter ), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also ...

of 19.1 g/cm
3, denser than
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate h ...

(11.3 g/cm
3), but slightly less dense than
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element
Image:Simple Periodic Table Chart-blocks.svg, 400px, Periodic table, The periodic table of the chemical elements
In chemistry, an element is a pure substance consisting only of atoms that all have ...

and
gold
Gold is a chemical element
Image:Simple Periodic Table Chart-blocks.svg, 400px, Periodic table, The periodic table of the chemical elements
In chemistry, an element is a pure substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numb ...

(19.3 g/cm
3).
Uranium metal reacts with almost all non-metal elements (with the exception of the
noble gas
The noble gases (historically also the inert gases; sometimes referred to as aerogens) make up a class of chemical elements with similar properties; under Standard conditions for temperature and pressure, standard conditions, they are all odorl ...
es) and their
compounds
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive structu ...
, with reactivity increasing with temperature.
and
nitric acid
Nitric acid (), also known as ''aqua fortis'' (Latin for "strong water") and spirit of niter, is a highly corrosive mineral acid.
The pure compound is colorless, but older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to decomposition into nitroge ...

s dissolve uranium, but non-oxidizing acids other than hydrochloric acid attack 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 oxide is an oxide
of rutile. Ti(IV) centers are grey; oxygen centers are red. Notice that oxygen forms three bonds to titanium and titanium forms six bonds to oxygen.
An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen
...
.
Uranium in ores is extracted chemically and converted into
uranium dioxide
Uranium dioxide or uranium(IV) oxide (), also known as urania or uranous oxide, is an oxide
of rutile
Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide (TiO2), and is the most common natural form of TiO2. Other rarer polymorphs of TiO2 ...

or other chemical forms usable in industry.
Uranium-235 was the first isotope that was found to be
fissile
In nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, veh ...
. Other naturally occurring isotopes are fissionable, but not fissile. On bombardment with slow neutrons, its uranium-235
isotope
Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number
300px, The Rutherford–Bohr model of the hydrogen atom () or a hydrogen-like ion (). In this model it is an essential feature that the photon energy (or frequency) of ...
will most of the time divide into two smaller
nuclei
''Nucleus'' (plural nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to:
*Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom
*Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA ...
, releasing nuclear
binding energy
In physics and chemistry, binding energy is the smallest amount of energy required to remove a particle from a system of particles or to disassemble a system of particles into individual parts. In the former meaning the term is predominantly use ...

and more neutrons. If too many of these neutrons are absorbed by other uranium-235 nuclei, a
nuclear chain reaction
300px, A possible nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron">uranium-235.html" ;"title="nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235">nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron, ...
occurs that results in a burst of heat or (in special circumstances) an explosion. In a nuclear reactor, such a chain reaction is slowed and controlled by a
neutron poison
In applications such as nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor, formerly known as an atomic pile, is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power pla ...
, absorbing some of the free neutrons. Such neutron absorbent materials are often part of reactor
control rod
Control rods are used in nuclear reactors to control the fission rate of uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic ta ...
s (see
nuclear reactor physics
Nuclear reactor physics is the field of physics that studies and deals with the applied study and engineering applications of chain reaction to induce a controlled rate of fission in a nuclear reactor for the production of energy.van Dam, H., van ...
for a description of this process of reactor control).
As little as 15 lb (7 kg) of uranium-235 can be used to make an atomic bomb.
The nuclear weapon detonated over
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan
, image_flag = Flag of Japan.svg
, alt_flag = Centered deep red circle on a white rectangle
, image_coat = Imperi ...
, called ''
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename for the type of atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon (also known as an atom bomb, atomic bomb, nuclear bomb or nuclear warhead, and colloquially as an A-bomb or nuke) is an explosive device that derives its destructiv ...

'', relied on uranium fission. However, the first nuclear bomb (the ''Gadget'' used at
Trinity
The Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ (title), Christ'' and ''Christian ...
) and the bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki (''
Fat Man
"Fat Man" (also known as Mark III) is the codename for the type of nuclear bomb
A nuclear weapon (also called an atom bomb, nuke, atomic bomb, nuclear warhead, A-bomb, or nuclear bomb) is an explosive device that derives its destructive f ...

'') were both plutonium bombs.
Uranium metal has three
allotropic
Allotropy or allotropism () is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical State of matter, state, known as allotropes of the elements. Allotropes are different structural modifications of ...
forms:
* α (
orthorhombic
In crystallography, the orthorhombic crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Orthorhombic lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along two of its orthogonal pairs by two different factors, resulting in a rectangular prism
An ...

) stable up to 668 °C. Orthorhombic,
space group
In mathematics, physics and chemistry, a space group is the symmetry group of an object in space, usually in three dimensions. The elements of a space group (its symmetry operations) are the rigid transformations of an object that leave it unchan ...
No. 63, ''Cmcm'',
lattice parameter
Image:UnitCell.png, upright=1.3, Unit cell definition using parallelopiped with lengths ''a'', ''b'', ''c'' and angles between the sides given by ''α'', ''β'', ''γ''
The lattice constant, or lattice parameter, refers to the physical dimension of ...
s ''a''= 285.4 pm, ''b'' = 587 pm, ''c'' = 495.5 pm.
* β (
tetragonal
In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the Cube (geometry), cube becomes a rectangular Pris ...

) stable from 668 °C to 775 °C. Tetragonal, space group ''P''4
2/''mnm'', ''P''4
2''nm'', or ''P''4''n''2, lattice parameters ''a'' = 565.6 pm, ''b'' = ''c'' = 1075.9 pm.
* γ (
body-centered cubic
200px, A network model of a primitive cubic system
In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in cryst ...
) from 775 °C to melting point—this is the most malleable and ductile state. Body-centered cubic, lattice parameter ''a'' = 352.4 pm.
Applications
Military

The major application of uranium in the military sector is in high-density penetrators. This ammunition consists of
depleted uranium
Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium
Uranium is a chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemistry
Chemistry is ...
(DU) alloyed with 1–2% other elements, such as
titanium
Titanium is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical ele ...

or
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a with the Mo and 42. The name is from ''molybdaenum'', which is based on ', meaning , since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals have been known throughout history, but the element was discovered (in the ...

. At high impact speed, the density, hardness, and
pyrophoricity
A substance is pyrophoric (from grc-gre, πυροφόρος, , 'fire-bearing') if it ignites spontaneously in air at or below (for gases) or within 5 minutes after coming into contact with air (for liquids and solids). Examples are iron sulfid ...
of the projectile enable the destruction of heavily armored targets. Tank armor and other removable
vehicle armor
Military vehicle
A military vehicle is a type of vehicle
A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transport
Transport (commonly used in the U.K.), or transportation (used in the U.S.), is the Motion, movement of humans, ani ...
can also be hardened with depleted uranium plates. The use of depleted uranium became politically and environmentally contentious after 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
Gulf War syndrome or Gulf War illness is a chronic and multi-symptomatic disorder affecting returning military veterans of the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. A wide range of acute and chronic symptoms have been linked to it, including fatigue, m ...
).
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
Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate h ...

in halting radiation from strong sources such as
radium
Radium is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

.
Other uses of depleted uranium include counterweights for aircraft control surfaces, as ballast for missile
re-entry vehicles and as a shielding material.
Due to its high density, this material is found in
inertial guidance system
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation i ...
s and in
gyroscopic
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following peri ...

compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the directions north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W. East and west are perpendicular ( ...

es.
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
Uranium oxide is an oxide
of rutile. Ti(IV) centers are grey; oxygen centers are red. Notice that oxygen forms three bonds to titanium and titanium forms six bonds to oxygen.
An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen
...
rather than radioactivity (uranium being only a weak
alpha emitter
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 atomic nucleus, nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may ...

).
During the later stages of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war
A world war is "a war
War is an intense armed conflict between states
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literatur ...
, the entire
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical
Geopolitics (from Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece
Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country loc ...
, 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
Plutonium-239 (239Pu, Pu-239) is an isotope
Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element which differ in neutron number, and consequently in nucleon number. All isotopes of a given element have the same number of protons but differe ...

derived from uranium-238. Later, a much more complicated and far more powerful type of fission/fusion bomb (
thermonuclear weapon
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design
Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon
...
) was built, that uses a plutonium-based device to cause a mixture of
tritium
Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucl ...

and
deuterium
Deuterium (or hydrogen-2, symbol or deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two stable isotopes
The term stable isotope has a meaning similar to stable nuclide, but is preferably used when speaking of nuclides of a specific elemen ...

to undergo
nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction, reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products ...

. 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 neutron
The neutron detection temperature, also called the neutron energy, indicates a free neutron's kinetic energy
In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion (physics), motion.
It is defined as th ...
s from the nuclear fusion process.
Civilian

The main use of uranium in the civilian sector is to fuel
nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (sometimes abbreviated as NPP) is a thermal power station
A thermal power station is a power station in which heat energy is converted to electricity. Typically, fuel is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to ...

s. One kilogram of uranium-235 can theoretically produce about
20 terajoules of energy (2
joule
The joule ( ; symbol: J) is a derived unit of energy
In physics
Physics is the that studies , its , its and behavior through , and the related entities of and . "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates ...

s), assuming complete fission; as much
energy
In physics
Physics is the that studies , its , its and behavior through , and the related entities of and . "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regula ...

as 1.5 million kilograms (1,500
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a metric unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilogram
The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the base unit of mass
Mass is the physical quantity, quantity of ''matter'' in a physical body. It is also a meas ...
s) of
coal
Coal is a combustible
, Germany
)
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, map_width = 250px
, capital = Berlin
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, languages_type = Official language
, languages = German language, German
, ...

.
Commercial
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its Motion (physics), ...

plants use fuel that is typically enriched to around 3% uranium-235.
The
CANDU
The CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its oxide () and its use of (originally, ) fuel. CANDU reactors were first developed in the late 1950s and 1960s by a partnershi ...
and
Magnox
Magnox is a type of nuclear reactor, nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite-moderated reactor, graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchanger, heat exchange coolant. It b ...

designs are the only commercial reactors capable of using unenriched uranium fuel. Fuel used for
United States Navy
), (unofficial)."''Non sibi sed patriae''" ( en, "Not for self but for country") (unofficial).
, colors = Blue and gold
, colors_label = Colors
, march = "Anchors Aweigh"
, mascot =
, equipment = List of equipment of the United St ...
reactors is typically highly enriched in
uranium-235
Uranium-235 (235U) is an Isotopes of uranium, 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 th ...

(the exact values are
classified). In a
breeder reactor
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor, formerly known as an atomic pile, is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants ...
, uranium-238 can also be converted into
plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material co ...

through the following reaction:
: + n +

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
Uranium glass is glass
Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent amorphous solid, that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glas ...

and in
Fiestaware.
The discovery and isolation of
radium
Radium is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

in uranium ore (pitchblende) by Marie Curie sparked 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 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 photography, 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 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 the isotope uranium-238 (4.51 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 is used for X-ray targets in the making of high-energy X-rays.
History
Pre-discovery use
The use of uranium in its natural oxide form dates back to at least the year 79 Common Era, CE, 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 Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples, Italy, by R. T. Gunther of the University of Oxford in 1912.
[.] Starting in the late Middle Ages, pitchblende was extracted from the Habsburg silver mines in Jáchymov, Joachimsthal, Bohemia (now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic), 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.
Discovery

The
discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation)
Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something previously unrecognized as meaningful. With reference to sciences and academic disciplines
An academic discipline or academic fi ...
of the element is credited to the German chemist
Martin Heinrich Klaproth
Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1 December 1743 – 1 January 1817) was a German chemist. He trained and worked for much of his life as an apothecary, moving in later life to the university. His shop became the second-largest apothecary in Berlin, and t ...

. While he 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
Nitric acid (), also known as ''aqua fortis'' (Latin for "strong water") and spirit of niter, is a highly corrosive mineral acid.
The pure compound is colorless, but older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to decomposition into nitroge ...

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 the newly discovered metal itself (in fact, that powder was an oxide of uranium).
He named the newly discovered element after the planet
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus, who, according to Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and ...

(named after the primordial Uranus (mythology), 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 the first sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with potassium.
Henri Becquerel
Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie (Mar ...

discovered radioactive decay, radioactivity by using uranium in 1896.
Becquerel made the discovery in Paris by leaving a sample of a uranium salt, K
2UO
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 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 substituted ferrouranium alloys which present many of the same physical characteristics. When this practice became known in 1916 the USA government requested several prominent universities to research these uses for uranium and tools made with these formulas remained in use for several decades only ending when the Manhattan Project and the Cold War placed a large demand on uranium for fission research and weapon development.
Fission research

A team led by
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 - 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...

in 1934 observed that bombarding uranium with neutrons produces the emission of beta decay, beta rays (
electron
The electron is a subatomic particle (denoted by the symbol or ) whose electric charge is negative one elementary charge. Electrons belong to the first generation (particle physics), generation of the lepton particle family,
and are general ...

s 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 the Dean of the Faculty of Rome, Orso Mario Corbino, christened ''ausonium'' and ''hesperium'', respectively. The experiments leading to the discovery of uranium's ability to fission (break apart) into lighter elements and release
binding energy
In physics and chemistry, binding energy is the smallest amount of energy required to remove a particle from a system of particles or to disassemble a system of particles into individual parts. In the former meaning the term is predominantly use ...

were conducted by
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language ...

and Fritz Strassmann
[.] in Hahn's laboratory in Berlin.
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner ( , ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physics, physicist who contributed to the discoveries of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. While working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute on radioactivit ...

and her nephew, the physicist Otto Robert Frisch, published the physical explanation in February 1939 and named the process "nuclear fission". Soon after, Fermi hypothesized that the 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 the rare uranium isotope uranium-235.
Fermi urged Alfred O. C. Nier to separate uranium isotopes for determination of 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
Uranium-235 (235U) is an Isotopes of uranium, 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 th ...

sample in the Tate Laboratory. After mailed to Pupin Hall, Columbia University's cyclotron, John R. Dunning, 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, is also fissile by thermal neutrons. These discoveries led numerous countries to begin working on the development of nuclear weapons and
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its Motion (physics), ...

.
On 2 December 1942, as part of the Manhattan Project, another team led by Enrico Fermi was able to initiate the first artificial self-sustained
nuclear chain reaction
300px, A possible nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron">uranium-235.html" ;"title="nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235">nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron, ...
, 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 a reaction by piling together 400 short tons (360 metric tons) of graphite, 58 short tons (53 metric tons) of
uranium oxide
Uranium oxide is an oxide
of rutile. Ti(IV) centers are grey; oxygen centers are red. Notice that oxygen forms three bonds to titanium and titanium forms six bonds to oxygen.
An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen
...
, and six short tons (5.5 metric tons) of uranium metal, a majority of which was supplied by Westinghouse Lamp Plant in a makeshift production process.
Nuclear weaponry

Two major types of atomic bombs were developed by the United States during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war
A world war is "a war
War is an intense armed conflict between states
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literatur ...
: a uranium-based device (codenamed "
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename for the type of atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon (also known as an atom bomb, atomic bomb, nuclear bomb or nuclear warhead, and colloquially as an A-bomb or nuke) is an explosive device that derives its destructiv ...

") whose fissile material was highly enriched uranium, and a plutonium-based device (see Trinity test and "
Fat Man
"Fat Man" (also known as Mark III) is the codename for the type of nuclear bomb
A nuclear weapon (also called an atom bomb, nuke, atomic bomb, nuclear warhead, A-bomb, or nuclear bomb) is an explosive device that derives its destructive f ...

") whose plutonium was derived from uranium-238. The uranium-based Little Boy device became the first nuclear weapon used in war when it was detonated over the Japanese city of
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan
, image_flag = Flag of Japan.svg
, alt_flag = Centered deep red circle on a white rectangle
, image_coat = Imperi ...
on 6 August 1945. Exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500 tonnes of Trinitrotoluene, TNT, the blast and thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings and killed approximately 75,000 people (see Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
Initially it 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.
Reactors

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 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 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 Nuclear Power Plant, Obninsk in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a that spanned during its existence from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a of multiple national ; in practice and were highly until its final years. The ...
, began generation with its reactor AM-1 on 27 June 1954. Other early nuclear power plants were Sellafield, Calder Hall in England, which began generation on 17 October 1956,
and 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 (SSN-571), USS ''Nautilus'', in 1954.
Prehistoric naturally occurring fission
In 1972, the French physicist Francis Perrin (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, West Africa, collectively known as the Natural nuclear fission reactor, Oklo Fossil Reactors. The ore deposit is 1.7 billion years old; then, uranium-235 constituted about 3% of the total uranium on Earth.
This is high enough to permit a sustained nuclear fission chain reaction to occur, provided other supporting conditions exist. The capacity of the surrounding sediment to contain the nuclear waste products has been cited by the U.S. federal government as supporting evidence for the feasibility to store spent nuclear fuel at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
Contamination and the Cold War legacy

Above-ground nuclear testing, 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 nuclear fallout, fallout from uranium daughter isotopes around the world. Additional fallout and pollution occurred from several nuclear and radiation accidents, nuclear accidents.
Uranium miners have a higher incidence of cancer. An excess risk of lung cancer among Navajo people, 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
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical
Geopolitics (from Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece
Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country loc ...
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. Since the Collapse of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)#Dissolution of the USSR, 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) have been stored in often inadequately guarded facilities in the Russia, 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 nuclear espionage, intercepted shipments of smuggled bomb-grade uranium or plutonium, most of which 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 approximately United States dollar, 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. ''Scientific American'' reported in February 2006 that in some of the facilities security consisted of chain link fences which were in severe states of disrepair. According to an interview from the article, one facility had been storing samples of enriched (weapons grade) uranium in a broom closet before the improvement project; another had been keeping track of its stock of nuclear warheads using index cards kept in a shoe box.
Occurrence
Origin
Along with all elements having
atomic weight
Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A'') or atomic weight is a dimensionless physical quantity
A physical quantity is a physical property of a material or system that can be Quantification (science), quantified by measurement. A physical quantity ca ...
s higher than that of iron, uranium 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,
235U and
238U, the r-process also produced significant quantities of uranium-236,
236U, which has a shorter half-life and so is an extinct radionuclide, having long since decayed completely to
232Th. Uranium-236 was itself enriched by the decay of plutonium-244,
244Pu, 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 plutonium-242,
242Pu (half-life 0.375 million years) and
247Cm (half-life 16 million years), producing
238U and
235U respectively, this occurred to an almost negligible extent due to the shorter half-lives of these parents and their lower production than
236U and
244Pu, the parents of thorium: the
247Cm:
235U ratio at the formation of the Solar System was .
Biotic and abiotic

Uranium is a natural abundance, naturally occurring element that can be found in low levels within all rock, soil, and water. Uranium is the 51st element in order of Abundance of elements in Earth's crust, abundance in the Earth's crust. Uranium is also the highest-numbered element to be found naturally in significant quantities on Earth and is almost always found combined with other elements.
The decay of uranium,
thorium
Thorium is a weakly radioactive decay, radioactive metallic chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderatel ...

, and potassium-40 in the Earth's mantle (geology), mantle is thought to be the main source of heat that keeps the Earth's Structure of the Earth, outer core in the liquid state and drives mantle convection, which in turn drives plate tectonics.
Uranium's average 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
17 kg (2 lb) of uranium while the oceans may contain 10
13 kg (2 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 (element), mercury, or silver, and it is about as abundant as arsenic or
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a with the Mo and 42. The name is from ''molybdaenum'', which is based on ', meaning , since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals have been known throughout history, but the element was discovered (in the ...

.
Uranium 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
).

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 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 the possibility that these organisms could be used in bioremediation to radioactive contamination, 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 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 the food people eat.
Production and mining

Worldwide production of U
3O
8 (yellowcake) in 2013 amounted to 70,015
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a metric unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilogram
The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the base unit of mass
Mass is the physical quantity, quantity of ''matter'' in a physical body. It is also a meas ...
s, of which 22,451 t (32%) was mined in Kazakhstan. Other important uranium mining countries are Canada (9,331 t), Australia (6,350 t), Niger (4,518 t), Namibia (4,323 t) and Russia (3,135 t).
Uranium ore is mined in several ways: by open-pit mining, open pit, underground mining (soft rock), underground, in-situ leaching, and borehole mining (see uranium mining).
Low-grade uranium ore mined typically contains 0.01 to 0.25% uranium oxides. Extensive measures must be employed to extract 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
3O
8. Yellowcake is then calcined to remove impurities from the milling process before refining and conversion.
Commercial-grade uranium can be produced through the redox, reduction of uranium halides with alkali metal, alkali or alkaline earth metals.
Uranium metal can also be prepared through electrolysis of or
Uranium tetrafluoride, , dissolved in molten calcium chloride () and sodium chloride (sodium, NaCl) solution.
Very pure uranium is produced through the thermal decomposition of uranium halides on a hot filament.
File:U production-demand.png, World uranium production (mines) and demand
File:Yellowcake.jpg, alt=A yellow sand-like rhombic mass on black background., Yellowcake is a concentrated mixture of uranium oxides that is further refined to extract pure uranium.
Resources and reserves
It is estimated that 5.5 million tonnes of uranium exists in ore reserves that are economically viable at US$59 per lb of uranium,
while 35 million tonnes are classed as mineral resources (reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction).
Prices went from about $10/lb in May 2003 to $138/lb in July 2007. This has caused a big increase in spending on exploration,
with US$200 million being spent worldwide in 2005, a 54% increase on the previous year.
This trend continued through 2006, when expenditure on exploration rocketed to over $774 million, an increase of over 250% compared to 2004. The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency said exploration figures for 2007 would likely match those for 2006.
Australia has 31% of the world's known uranium ore reserves and the world's largest single uranium deposit, located at the Olympic Dam, South Australia, 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 nuclear fuel comes from nuclear weapons being dismantled, such as from the Megatons to Megawatts Program.
An additional 4.6 billion tonnes of uranium are estimated to be 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 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.
Supplies

In 2005, seventeen countries produced concentrated uranium oxides: Canada (27.9% of world production), Australia (22.8%), Kazakhstan (10.5%), Russia (8.0%), Namibia (7.5%), Niger (7.4%), Uzbekistan (5.5%), the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

(2.5%), Argentina (2.1%), Ukraine (1.9%) and People's Republic of China, China (1.7%). In 2008 Kazakhstan was forecast to increase production and may have become the world's largest producer of uranium by 2009 with an expected production of 12,826 tonnes, compared to Canada with 11,100 t and Australia with 9,430 t. The predictions have come true. In 2019 Kazakhstan produces the largest share of uranium from mines 42% of world supply, followed by Canada (13%) and Australia (12%), Namibia(10%), Uzbekistan(6%), Niger(5%), Russia(5%), China(3%), Ukraine(1.5%), USA (0.12%), India (0.6%), Iran (0.13%), with total world production 54752 tonnes from mines.
However, it should be mentioned that in 2019 uranium was mined not only by conventional underground mining of ores 43% of production (54752 tonnes), where rock mineralised is removed from the ground, breaking it up and treating it to remove the minerals being sought but also by In situ leach, in-situ leaching methods (ISL) 57% of world production (64566 tonnes).
In the late 1960s, UN geologists also 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 is believed to be sufficient for at least the next 85 years,
although 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.
Compounds
Oxidation states and oxides
Oxides
Calcined uranium yellowcake, as produced in many large mills, contains 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 , which dates to the days of the Manhattan Project when was used as an analytical chemistry reporting standard.
Phase (matter), Phase relationships in the uranium-oxygen system are complex. The most important oxidation states of uranium are uranium(IV) and uranium(VI), and their two corresponding oxides are, respectively,
uranium dioxide
Uranium dioxide or uranium(IV) oxide (), also known as urania or uranous oxide, is an oxide
of rutile
Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide (TiO2), and is the most common natural form of TiO2. Other rarer polymorphs of TiO2 ...

() and uranium trioxide ().
[.] Other
uranium oxide
Uranium oxide is an oxide
of rutile. Ti(IV) centers are grey; oxygen centers are red. Notice that oxygen forms three bonds to titanium and titanium forms six bonds to oxygen.
An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen
...
s such as uranium monoxide (UO), diuranium pentoxide (), and uranium peroxide () also exist.
The most common forms of uranium oxide are triuranium octoxide () and .
Both oxide forms are solids that have low solubility in water and are relatively stable over a wide range of environmental conditions. Triuranium octoxide is (depending on conditions) the most stable compound of uranium and is the form most commonly found in nature. Uranium dioxide is the form in which uranium is most commonly used as a nuclear reactor fuel.
At ambient temperatures, will gradually convert to . Because of their stability, uranium oxides are generally considered the preferred chemical form for storage or disposal.
Aqueous chemistry

Salts of many oxidation states of uranium are water-solubility, soluble and may be studied in aqueous solutions. The most common ionic forms are (brown-red), (green), (unstable), and (yellow), for U(III), U(IV), U(V), and U(VI), respectively.
[.] A few solid and semi-metallic compounds such as UO and US exist for the formal oxidation state uranium(II), but no simple ions are known to exist in solution for that state. Ions of liberate hydrogen from water and are therefore considered to be highly unstable. The ion represents the uranium(VI) state and is known to form compounds such as uranyl carbonate, uranyl chloride and uranyl sulfate. also forms complex (chemistry), complexes with various organic compound, organic chelation, chelating agents, the most commonly encountered of which is uranyl acetate.
Unlike the uranyl salts of uranium and polyatomic ion uranium-oxide cationic forms, the uranates, salts containing a polyatomic uranium-oxide anion, are generally not water-soluble.
Carbonates
The interactions of carbonate anions with uranium(VI) cause the Pourbaix diagram to change greatly when the medium is changed from water to a carbonate containing solution. While the vast majority of carbonates are insoluble in water (students are often taught that all carbonates other than those of alkali metals are insoluble in water), uranium carbonates are often soluble in water. This is because a U(VI) cation is able to bind two terminal oxides and three or more carbonates to form anionic complexes.
Effects of pH
The uranium fraction diagrams in the presence of carbonate illustrate this further: when the pH of a uranium(VI) solution increases, the uranium is converted to a hydrated uranium oxide hydroxide and at high pHs it becomes an anionic hydroxide complex.
When carbonate is added, uranium is converted to a series of carbonate complexes if the pH is increased. One effect of these reactions is increased solubility of uranium in the pH range 6 to 8, a fact that has a direct bearing on the long term stability of spent uranium dioxide nuclear fuels.
Hydrides, carbides and nitrides
Uranium metal heated to reacts with hydrogen to form uranium hydride. Even higher temperatures will reversibly remove the hydrogen. This property makes uranium hydrides convenient starting materials to create reactive uranium powder along with various uranium carbide, nitride, and halide compounds.
[.] Two crystal modifications of uranium hydride exist: an α form that is obtained at low temperatures and a β form that is created when the formation temperature is above 250 °C.
Uranium carbides and uranium nitrides are both relatively Chemically inert, inert semimetallic compounds that are minimally soluble in acids, react with water, and can ignite in air to form .
Carbides of uranium include uranium monocarbide (Ucarbon, C), uranium dicarbide (), and diuranium tricarbide (). Both UC and are formed by adding carbon to molten uranium or by exposing the metal to carbon monoxide at high temperatures. Stable below 1800 °C, is prepared by subjecting a heated mixture of UC and to mechanical stress.
[.] Uranium nitrides obtained by direct exposure of the metal to nitrogen include uranium mononitride (UN), uranium dinitride (), and diuranium trinitride ().
Halides

All uranium fluorides are created using uranium tetrafluoride (); itself is prepared by hydrofluorination of uranium dioxide.
Reduction of with hydrogen at 1000 °C produces uranium trifluoride (). Under the right conditions of temperature and pressure, the reaction of solid with gaseous uranium hexafluoride () can form the intermediate fluorides of , , and .
At room temperatures, has a high vapor pressure, making it useful in the gaseous diffusion process to separate the rare uranium-235 from the common uranium-238 isotope. This compound can be prepared from uranium dioxide and uranium hydride by the following process:
: + 4 HF → + 2 (500 °C, endothermic)
: + → (350 °C, endothermic)
The resulting , a white solid, is highly chemical reaction, reactive (by fluorination), easily sublimation (chemistry), sublimes (emitting a vapor that behaves as a nearly ideal gas), and is the most volatile compound of uranium known to exist.
One method of preparing uranium tetrachloride () is to directly combine chlorine with either uranium metal or uranium hydride. The reduction of by hydrogen produces uranium trichloride () while the higher chlorides of uranium are prepared by reaction with additional chlorine.
All uranium chlorides react with water and air.
Bromides and iodides of uranium are formed by direct reaction of, respectively, bromine and iodine with uranium or by adding to those element's acids.
Known examples include: , , , and . has never been prepared. Uranium oxyhalides are water-soluble and include , , , and . Stability of the oxyhalides decrease as the
atomic weight
Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A'') or atomic weight is a dimensionless physical quantity
A physical quantity is a physical property of a material or system that can be Quantification (science), quantified by measurement. A physical quantity ca ...
of the component halide increases.
Isotopes
Natural concentrations
Natural uranium consists of three major isotopes:
uranium-238
Uranium-238 (238U or U-238) is the most common Isotopes of uranium, isotope of uranium found in nature, with a relative abundance of 99%. Unlike uranium-235, it is non-fissile, which means it cannot sustain a chain reaction in a thermal-neutron r ...
(99.28% natural abundance), uranium-235 (0.71%), and
uranium-234
Uranium-234 (234U, U-234) is an isotope of uranium. In natural uranium
Natural uranium (NU, Unat) refers to uranium
Uranium is a chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemist ...

(0.0054%). All three are
radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus
The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of s and s ...

, emitting
alpha particle
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two proton
A proton is a subatomic particle, symbol or , with a positive electric charge of +1''e'' elementary charge and a mass slightly less than that of a neutron. Proton ...

s, with the exception that all three of these isotopes have small probabilities of undergoing
spontaneous fission
Spontaneous fission (SF) is a form of radioactive decay
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by r ...
. There are also five other trace isotopes: uranium-239, which is formed when
238U undergoes spontaneous fission, releasing neutrons that are captured by another
238U atom; uranium-237, which is formed when
238U captures a neutron but emits two more, which then decays to neptunium-237; and finally, uranium-233, which is formed in the decay chain of that neptunium-237. It is also expected that thorium-232 should be able to undergo double beta decay, which would produce uranium-232, but this has not yet been observed experimentally.
Uranium-238 is the most stable isotope of uranium, with a half-life of about 4.468 years, roughly the
age of the Earth
The age of Earth is estimated to be 4.54 ± 0.05 1,000,000,000, billion years This age may represent the age of the Earth's accretion (astrophysics), accretion, or core formation, or of the material from which the Earth formed. This dating is b ...
. Uranium-235 has a half-life of about 7.13 years, and uranium-234 has a half-life of about 2.48 years.
[.] About 49% of alpha particles in natural uranium are emitted by
238U, 49% are emitted by
234U (since the latter is formed from the former), and about 2% by
235U. When the Earth was young, probably about one-fifth of its uranium was uranium-235, but the percentage of
234U was probably much lower than this.
Uranium-238 is usually an alpha emitter (occasionally, it undergoes spontaneous fission), decaying through the decay chain#Uranium series, uranium series, which has 18 members, into lead#Isotopes, lead-206, by a variety of different decay paths.
The decay chain of
235U, which is called the decay chain#Actinium series, actinium series, has 15 members and eventually decays into lead-207.
The constant rates of decay in these decay series makes the comparison of the ratios of parent to decay product, daughter elements useful in radiometric dating.
Uranium-234, which is a member of the uranium series (the decay chain of uranium-238), decays to lead-206 through a series of relatively short-lived isotopes.
Uranium-233 is made from thorium#Isotopes, thorium-232 by neutron bombardment, usually in a nuclear reactor, and
233U is also fissile.
Its decay chain forms part of the decay chain#Neptunium series, neptunium series and ends at bismuth-209 and thallium-205.
Uranium-235 is important for both
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor, formerly known as an atomic pile, is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction
300px, A possible nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron">uranium-235.html" ;"ti ...

s and
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon (also known as an atom bomb, atomic bomb, nuclear bomb or nuclear warhead, and colloquially as an A-bomb or nuke) is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics and nucl ...
s, because it is the only uranium isotope existing in nature on Earth in any significant amount that is fissile. This means that it can be split into two or three fragments (fission products) by thermal neutrons.
Uranium-238 is not fissile, but is a fertile isotope, because after neutron activation it can be converted to plutonium-239, another fissile isotope. Indeed, the
238U nucleus can absorb one neutron to produce the radioactive isotope uranium-239.
239U decays by beta emission to neptunium-239, also a beta-emitter, that decays in its turn, within a few days into plutonium-239.
239Pu was used as fissile material in the first atomic bomb detonated in the "Trinity test" on 15 July 1945 in New Mexico.
Enrichment

In nature, uranium is found as uranium-238 (99.2742%) and uranium-235 (0.7204%). Isotope separation concentrates (enriches) the fissionable uranium-235 for nuclear weapons and most nuclear power plants, except for gas cooled reactors and pressurised heavy water reactors. Most neutrons released by a fissioning atom of uranium-235 must impact other uranium-235 atoms to sustain the
nuclear chain reaction
300px, A possible nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron">uranium-235.html" ;"title="nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235">nuclear fission chain reaction:
1) A uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron, ...
. The concentration and amount of uranium-235 needed to achieve this is called a 'critical mass'.
To be considered 'enriched', the uranium-235 fraction should be between 3% and 5%. This process produces huge quantities of uranium that is depleted of uranium-235 and with a correspondingly increased fraction of uranium-238, called depleted uranium or 'DU'. To be considered 'depleted', the uranium-235 isotope concentration should be no more than 0.3%.
The price of uranium has risen since 2001, so enrichment tailings containing more than 0.35% uranium-235 are being considered for re-enrichment, driving the price of depleted uranium hexafluoride above $130 per kilogram in July 2007 from $5 in 2001.
The gas centrifuge process, where gaseous uranium hexafluoride () is separated by the difference in molecular weight between
235UF
6 and
238UF
6 using high-speed centrifuges, is the cheapest and leading enrichment process.
[.] The gaseous diffusion process had been the leading method for enrichment and was used in the Manhattan Project. In this process, uranium hexafluoride is repeatedly diffusion, diffused through a silver-zinc membrane, and the different isotopes of uranium are separated by diffusion rate (since uranium 238 is heavier it diffuses slightly slower than uranium-235).
The molecular laser isotope separation method employs a laser beam of precise energy to sever the bond between uranium-235 and fluorine. This leaves uranium-238 bonded to fluorine and allows uranium-235 metal to precipitate from the solution.
An alternative laser method of enrichment is known as atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS) and employs visible tunable lasers such as dye lasers. Another method used is liquid thermal diffusion.
Human exposure
A person can be exposed to uranium (or its decay product, radioactive daughters, such as radon) by inhaling dust in air or by ingesting contaminated water and food. The amount of uranium in air is usually very small; however, people who work in factories that process phosphate fertilizers, live near government facilities that made or tested nuclear weapons, live or work near a modern battlefield where depleted uranium weapons have been used, or live or work near a
coal
Coal is a combustible
, Germany
)
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, map_width = 250px
, capital = Berlin
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, languages_type = Official language
, languages = German language, German
, ...

-fired power plant, facilities that mine or process uranium ore, or enrich uranium for reactor fuel, may have increased exposure to uranium.
Houses or structures that are over uranium deposits (either natural or man-made slag deposits) may have an increased incidence of exposure to radon gas. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the permissible exposure limit for uranium exposure in the workplace as 0.25 mg/m
3 over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 0.2 mg/m
3 over an 8-hour workday and a short-term limit of 0.6 mg/m
3. At levels of 10 mg/m
3, uranium is IDLH, immediately dangerous to life and health.
Most ingested uranium is excreted during digestion. Only 0.5% is absorbed when insoluble forms of uranium, such as its oxide, are ingested, whereas absorption of the more soluble uranyl ion can be up to 5%.
However, soluble uranium compounds tend to quickly pass through the body, whereas insoluble uranium compounds, especially when inhaled by way of dust into the lungs, pose a more serious exposure hazard. After entering the bloodstream, the absorbed uranium tends to bioaccumulation, bioaccumulate and stay for many years in bone tissue because of uranium's affinity for phosphates.
Uranium is not absorbed through the skin, and
alpha particle
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two proton
A proton is a subatomic particle, symbol or , with a positive electric charge of +1''e'' elementary charge and a mass slightly less than that of a neutron. Proton ...

s released by uranium cannot penetrate the skin.
Incorporated uranium becomes uranyl ions, which accumulate in bone, liver, kidney, and reproductive tissues. Uranium can be decontaminated from steel surfaces
and aquifers.
Effects and precautions
Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and other systems can be affected by uranium exposure, because, besides being weakly radioactive, uranium is a Metal toxicity, toxic metal.
Uranium is also a reproductive toxicant.
Radiological effects are generally local because alpha radiation, the primary form of
238U decay, has a very short range, and will not penetrate skin. Alpha radiation from inhaled uranium has been demonstrated to cause lung cancer in exposed nuclear workers. Uranyl () ions, such as from uranium trioxide or uranyl nitrate and other hexavalent uranium compounds, have been shown to cause birth defects and immune system damage in laboratory animals. While the CDC has published one study that no human cancer has been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium,
exposure to uranium and its decay products, especially radon, are widely known and significant health threats.
Exposure to strontium-90, iodine-131, and other fission products is unrelated to uranium exposure, but may result from medical procedures or exposure to spent reactor fuel or fallout from nuclear weapons.
Although accidental inhalation exposure to a high concentration of uranium hexafluoride has
resulted in human fatalities, those deaths were associated with the generation of highly toxic hydrofluoric acid and uranyl fluoride rather than with uranium itself.
Finely divided uranium metal presents a fire hazard because uranium is pyrophoricity, pyrophoric; small grains will ignite spontaneously in air at room temperature.
Uranium metal is commonly handled with gloves as a sufficient precaution.
Uranium concentrate is handled and contained so as to ensure that people do not inhale or ingest it.
See also
* K-65 residues
* List of countries by uranium production
* List of countries by uranium reserves
* List of uranium projects
* Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
* Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents
* Nuclear engineering
* Nuclear fuel cycle
* Nuclear physics
* Thorium fuel cycle
* World Uranium Hearing
Notes
References
*
*
External links
U.S. EPA: Radiation Information for Uraniumfrom World Nuclear Association
Nuclear fuel data and analysisfrom the U.S. Energy Information Administration
Current market price of uraniumAnnotated bibliography for uranium from the Alsos Digital LibraryNLM Hazardous Substances Databank—Uranium, RadioactiveMining Uranium at Namibia's Langer Heinrich MineWorld Nuclear NewsATSDR Case Studies in Environmental Medicine: Uranium ToxicityU.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Uraniumat ''The Periodic Table of Videos'' (University of Nottingham)
{{Authority control
Uranium,
Chemical elements
Actinides
Nuclear fuels
Nuclear materials
Suspected male-mediated teratogens
Manhattan Project