ABSTRACT
Uranium is the basic raw material for nuclear power. Section 7.2 considers its main characteristics and overall abundance, whereas Section 7.3 looks at uranium resources in rather more detail, showing that uranium is actually a relatively abundant element in the earth’s crust. Section 7.4 outlines some basic uranium geology, making the point that it is available in a wide variety of geological settings. Section 7.5 moves onto 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 7.6 briefly highlights the milling of extracted uranium ore, while Section 7.7 considers the important environmental aspects of uranium mining. Section 7.8 examines uranium production in some detail, by country, company and major mines. Section 7.9 then looks at the world uranium market and considers price determination. Section 7.10 examines uranium conversion, the next necessary step in the nuclear fuel cycle. Finally, Section 7.11 considers thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel.
