3 ms·

Seawater: "pumping the seawater to extract this uranium would need more energy than what could be produced with the recuperated uranium" Source: http://large.st

• lazide 4y ago
  I’ve usually heard it in reference to an add on process to other reasons we move seawater around - desalination, power plant cooling, etc. very good point though on end cycle efficiencies!
  • natmaka 4y ago
    Indeed, and there AFAIK were some "tandem" (desalination+uranium) projects, however nothing appeared therefore there may be severe practical constraints or technical hurdles. Maybe later(?)
    • lazide 4y ago
      Part of it I think is Uranium is easy to get economically right now, and has a pretty limited set of potential buyers (and the set isn’t growing very quickly). Most Uranium mines (15000 worked claims in the Midwest in particular) no one even bothers with. Cool or not, if one of the 5 major mines decides to cut prices, you’d better be awfully efficient right now.
      • natmaka 4y ago
        Uranium was cheap from the 1960 until now, bar ~3 years around 2007 (a 'Bubble'), however research towards ways to not depend on it (mostly towards breeder reactors) was very intense in many nations from the 1950's to 2000, because of an economic perspective (there is no clear reason for uranium prices to stay low, especially after a nuclear 'Renaissance' and given that it is tied to ore grade, which gets lower and lower), a social perspective (breeders and such reduce the amount of nuclear waste and risk associated to it), and for some nations also a strategic perspective (all existing uranium sellers live under a superpower).