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Current Status of Technology for Extracting Uranium From Seawater
Given the limited terrestrial reserves of uranium (about 4.6 million tons), exploring alternative resources is essential to ensure the long-term supply and sustainability of nuclear energy. Uranium extraction from seawater (UES) is a potential solution to this issue since the amount of uranium dissolved in seawater (about 4.5 billion tons) is approximately 1000 times that of terrestrial reserves. However, the ultra-low concentration of uranium in seawater (about 3.3 ppb) makes it a challenging task to make UES economically feasible. This paper provides an overview of the current status of UES technology, which has evolved over the past seven decades. Starting from inorganic adsorbents such as hydrous titanium oxide in the 1960s, amidoxime-based fibrous adsorbents gained the most attention until the early 2010s due to their ease of deployment in actual seawater conditions and high affinity for uranium. Nowadays, research on organic adsorbents with microstructures is prevailing due to their ability to easily control surface area and compositions. In addition, this study identifies the key issues that need to be addressed to make UES technology economically viable.
