Nuclear energy is undergoing a renaissance because it does not contribute to global warming. However, even ignoring the issue of radioactive waste, the production of nuclear energy has its own environmental impacts. However, ore resources for uranium are limited and only expected to last another century. The ocean contains vast quantities of uranium that could meet future needs. Furthermore, there are many incidences of groundwater contaminated with uranium, the removal of which can provide potable both drinking water and nuclear fuel. We will report the results of an investigation of the effectiveness of tungsten oxides for removing uranium from drinking water and ocean water. These have extremely high capacity for uranium absorption since the metal is sequestered as an insoluble tungstate mineral. An attractive feature of this process is the ease by which the uranium can be isolated and the sorbent regenerated for reuse. The results of the use of the sorbent to “mine” the oceans for uranium and other useful metals will be reported.

Sorption of uranium from ground water and sea water

2019 Spring National Meeting

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