Energy Neutral Mineral Processing With High Temperature Reactors Resource Identification Uranium Recovery And Thermal Processes

With easily extractable resources depleting rapidly, global production of uranium is moving to lower-grade and presently considered unconventional resources that can contain relevant amounts of naturally occurring uranium. Processing these resources can require large amounts of energy that could be provided reliably by small modular reactors (SMRs). This publication reports on the findings of an IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) which investigated the use of SMRs for energy neutral mineral processing. It summarizes the results of the CRP and includes 12 case studies conducted by the participating Member States. It is intended to inform future decision makers and other stakeholders.

This publication is a comprehensive contemporary 'one stop' summary and reference volume for world uranium geology and resources allowing insight into potential future uranium discoveries and supply. This is based upon, and updated from, the International Uranium Resource Evaluation Project (IUREP) undertaken by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD-NEA) with supporting data from 27 editions of the joint OECD-NEA/IAEA 'Red Book'. For the sake of completeness, this publication also includes a review and comparison of the various outputs of the original IUREP project with new data visualisation incorporating previously difficult to access information, as well as 15 global maps of different uranium deposit types as a separate Annex for download.

This publication reports on the results of a coordinated research project on advances in high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) fuel technology and describes the findings of research activities on coated particle developments. These comprise two specific benchmark exercises with the application of HTGR fuel performance and fission product release codes, which helped compare the quality and validity of the computer models against experimental data. The project participants also examined techniques for fuel characterization and advanced quality assessment/quality control. The key exercise included a round-robin experimental study on the measurements of fuel kernel and particle coating properties of recent Korean, South African and US coated particle productions applying the respective qualification measures of each participating Member State. The summary report documents the results and conclusions achieved by the project and underlines the added value to contemporary knowledge on HTGR fuel.

Descriptive Uranium Deposit and Mineral System Models This publication provides a set of systematic descriptive models for each uranium deposit type, subtype and class, using a consistent approach to summarise the same types of information for each. Each model is intended to have a standalone capability, using a tabular style that is typical of conventional mineral resource industry standards. Each deposit model includes a map showing the distribution of deposits, and grade-tonnage graphs. Collectively, these databases and models form a basis for assessing the global distribution of uranium deposits and evaluating supply-demand scenarios. With these, the IAEA can provide the capability for Member States to assess the potential of remaining -- or speculative -- uranium resources for long term supply beyond identified resources in a consistent and reproducible manner.

Typically, discussions of the uranium production cycle are focused on either the economic extraction of resources, or on the environmental and remediation aspects as parallel aspects in a linear cradle-to-grave process. In this publication, resource evaluation is expanded to the full life of the mine to include evaluation of resources in residual waste products. This is viewed in the context of potential reuse or remining of so-called anthropogenic resources in a circular economy. The publication is intended to not only provide a preliminary inventory of uranium contained in mine wastes including the desirable goal of comprehensive extraction in the (uranium) mining industry, but also to provide an initial framework to integrate this aim with those of environmental and remediation considerations in achieving zero waste.

Originally published in 1983, this book presents both the technical and political information necessary to evaluate the emerging threat to world security posed by recent advances in uranium enrichment technology. Uranium enrichment has played a relatively quiet but important role in the history of efforts by a number of nations to acquire nuclear weapons and by a number of others to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. For many years the uranium enrichment industry was dominated by a single method, gaseous diffusion, which was technically complex, extremely capital-intensive, and highly inefficient in its use of energy. As long as this remained true, only the richest and most technically advanced nations could afford to pursue the enrichment route to weapon acquisition. But during the 1970s this situation changed dramatically. Several new and far more accessible enrichment techniques were developed, stimulated largely by the anticipation of a rapidly growing demand for enrichment services by the world-wide nuclear power industry. This proliferation of new techniques, coupled with the subsequent contraction of the commercial market for enriched uranium, has created a situation in which uranium enrichment technology might well become the most important contributor to further nuclear weapon proliferation. Some of the issues addressed in this book are: A technical analysis of the most important enrichment techniques in a form that is relevant to analysis of proliferation risks; A detailed projection of the world demand for uranium enrichment services; A summary and critique of present institutional non-proliferation arrangements in the world enrichment industry, and An identification of the states most likely to pursue the enrichment route to acquisition of nuclear weapons.