The Future of Power Generation: Abstraction of Uranium from Seawater

Whether you support it or stand vehemently against it, the basic fact is it is the only biggest source of power once all petroleum fields across the world come to an end. We are talking about nuclear energy. It will be one of the bases of human race survival in coming times. One of the most common problems that has posed the biggest challenge in its way it continuous supply. It will no doubt turn the world into a greener place but only when its supply is not marred with scarcity.

Like all other non-renewable sources, this will too come to an end as right now the biggest sources of its production are mines. And then we will have to depend on other feasible sources. But to our luck, a large reservoir of uranium hasn’t’ been untapped by the human race. – The oceans. The oceans are capable of supplying not millions but billions of tons of uranium. But the biggest challenge is to skim these oceans as the element is present here in a much diluted state. This is where the new researches and discoveries come in. there is a team of researchers that has been trying to get uranium from oceans with the help of electrified fibers.

Yi Cui, a materials scientist from Stanford, adds, “Concentrations [of uranium] are tiny, on the order of a single grain of salt dissolved in a liter of water. But the oceans are so vast that if we can extract these trace amounts cost effectively, the supply would be endless.” A research led at the Ridge National Laboratory, recently, showcased that plastic fibers layered with a chemical called amidoxime is capable of luring in a positively charged uranium ion. When a cluster of these amidoxime-doped fibers is dunked into seawater, a decent amount of uranium is collected and harvested with a separate chemical process.