• Energy Research

A number of primary ores such as phosphate rock, gold-, copper- and rare earth ores contain considerable amounts of accompanying uranium and other critical materials. Energy neutral mineral processing is the extraction of unconventional uranium during primary ore processing to use it, after enrichment and fuel production, to generate greenhouse gas lean energy in a nuclear reactor. Energy neutrality is reached if the energy produced from the extracted uranium is equal to or larger than the energy required for primary ore processing, uranium extraction, -conversion, -enrichment and -fuel production. This work discusses the sustainability of energy neutral mineral processing and provides an overview of the current progress of a multinational research project on that topic conducted under the umbrella of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Abstract This paper discusses how high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) could provide energy for phosphate rock (PR) processing while extracting uranium (U) from the processed PR that can again be used as raw material for nuclear reactor fuel that may power the greenhouse gas lean energy source employed. First estimates using a HTGR presently constructed in China (HTR-PM) conclude that a concentration of approximately 80 mg/kg U in PR is sufficiently high for energy neutral wet acid PR processing with waste treatment and a concentration of approximately 110 mg/kg U is adequate to promote energy intensive high quality thermal phosphoric acid production. In addition, the recovery of U from PRs yields beneficial side-effects in a way that U loads on agricultural soils are reduced and consequently contamination of groundwater with U will be diminished.

Abstract Argentina's nuclear reactor fleet provides about 10% of the country's electricity, and it is foreseen to increase nuclear power production in the future. Although most Argentinians accept nuclear power generation, public opinion is not in favor of uranium mining and all uranium needs are presently met by uranium imports at costs above international market prices (both spot and long-term contracts). Argentina also imports considerable amounts of phosphate rock and phosphate fertilizer to supply its agricultural industry. It is well-known that phosphate rocks and phosphate fertilizers can contain elevated amounts of associated uranium that is dissipated on agricultural soils if it is not recovered during fertilizer production. In this work, we estimate the amount of uranium that can be recovered from imported phosphate rock, determine the amount of uranium that could theoretically be recovered from all phosphate fertilizers used in Argentina and discuss potential uranium recovery from identified domestic phosphate rock resources.