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Indeed. Rare earths are specific elements in the periodic table. The only way we could "synthesize" these elements is atomically -- by bombarding other elements
by zamfi 7y ago
Indeed. Rare earths are specific elements in the periodic table. The only way we could "synthesize" these elements is atomically -- by bombarding other elements with nucleons and hope they stick or split. "Not economically worthwhile" is a massive understatement. :)
A similar process is required to turn lead into gold!
- burfog 7y agoWe're doing it already, in every nuclear power plant. We might as well harvest the results. Many won't be radioactive, with the problematic isotopes disappearing quickly, and anyway we know how to separate isotopes. Particularly common: yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and samarium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fission_products_(by_element) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fission_products_(by_element) For political reasons, the USA is one of the few nuclear countries that does not reprocess fuel. Besides missing out on rare earths, we're discarding about 95% of the uranium as waste. (discarding about 90% of the energy, with overhead taking a bit) Russia, China, France, India, and Pakistan all have reprocessing plants.
- zamfi 7y agoIs this actually a significant source of rare earth elements? My understanding is that they’re rare compared with things like carbon, nitrogen, etc. Cerium, one of the rare earths, is apparently more common than copper, even. Seems like extracting them from spent nuclear fuel would be much less economic than just grinding them out of rocks, but IANANE.