14 ms·

Uranium actually does not require mining. Most uranium is extracted using underground wells where water is pumped underground and the Uranium is extracted from

by gregbot 8mo ago

Uranium actually does not require mining. Most uranium is extracted using underground wells where water is pumped underground and the Uranium is extracted from the water. Also extracting Uranium from sea water (which would be basically unlimited) is close to being commercially viable and has received a lot of lab-scale research. Also, Uranium is only recyclable once with light water reactors. With breeder reactors (which have been built in the past) it can be recycled a hundred times.

rsynnott 8mo ago
> Most uranium is extracted using underground wells where water is pumped underground and the Uranium is extracted from the water. ... I mean that's mining?
- gregbot 8mo ago
  Arguably yes! But it avoids a lot of the safety and environmental hazards of traditional methods.
natmaka 8mo ago
Sea water: "it is clear that it would be very risky today, to have a long-term industrial strategy based on significant production of uranium from seawater with an affordable cost" ( https://www.epj-n.org/articles/epjn/full_html/2016/01/epjn150059/epjn150059.html https://www.epj-n.org/articles/epjn/full_html/2016/01/epjn15... ) > With breeder reactors After decades of expensive R&D... there is no model of industrial breeder reactor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor#Notable_reactors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor#Notable_reacto... ). Can you name one? Russia is by far the most advanced. However, its "BN-800" reactor, which began operating in 2014, is so uninspiring that they abstain from deploying any of them, preferring the classic "VVER" (non-breeder) models, and its planned successor, named "BN-1200M," has been postponed to 2035. This doesn't represent an abandonment of breeder reactors, as this nation is actively exploring another avenue: the "BREST" architecture (lead coolant rather than sodium), with a small demonstration reactor (300 MW) whose construction began in 2021, essentially "back to square one."

by gregbot 8mo ago

rsynnott 8mo ago

> Most uranium is extracted using underground wells where water is pumped underground and the Uranium is extracted from the water. ... I mean that's mining?

gregbot 8mo ago
Arguably yes! But it avoids a lot of the safety and environmental hazards of traditional methods.

natmaka 8mo ago

Sea water: "it is clear that it would be very risky today, to have a long-term industrial strategy based on significant production of uranium from seawater with an affordable cost" ( https://www.epj-n.org/articles/epjn/full_html/2016/01/epjn150059/epjn150059.html https://www.epj-n.org/articles/epjn/full_html/2016/01/epjn15... ) > With breeder reactors After decades of expensive R&D... there is no model of industrial breeder reactor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor#Notable_reactors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor#Notable_reacto... ). Can you name one? Russia is by far the most advanced. However, its "BN-800" reactor, which began operating in 2014, is so uninspiring that they abstain from deploying any of them, preferring the classic "VVER" (non-breeder) models, and its planned successor, named "BN-1200M," has been postponed to 2035. This doesn't represent an abandonment of breeder reactors, as this nation is actively exploring another avenue: the "BREST" architecture (lead coolant rather than sodium), with a small demonstration reactor (300 MW) whose construction began in 2021, essentially "back to square one."