ABSTRACT
Uranium is the basic raw material for nuclear power. Section 10.2 considers its main characteristics and overall abundance, whereas Section 10.3 looks at uranium resources in rather more detail, showing that uranium is actually a relatively abundant element in the earth’s crust. Section 10.4 outlines some basic uranium geology, making the point that it is available in a wide variety of geological settings. Section 10.5 moves on to consider mining techniques that may be employed to exploit known uranium deposits, highlighting the rise of in situ leaching (ISL) techniques in recent years. Section 10.6 briefly highlights the milling of extracted uranium ore, while Section 10.7 considers the important environmental aspects of uranium mining. Section 10.8 examines uranium production in some detail, by country, company, and major mines. Section 10.9 then looks at the world uranium market and considers price determination. Section 10.10 looks at potential secondary supplies of uranium, while Section 10.11 examines uranium conversion, the next necessary step in the nuclear fuel cycle. Finally, Section 10.12 considers thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel.
