Uses for Depleted Uranium Explored
MORE ACCURATE
Battelle Institute reports on markets for uranium from which most of the fissionable U235 has been removed Potential markets for depleted uranium for nonnuclear uses will be less than a few hundred tons per year for the next five years. But during that time new uses could be developed which would open up markets for several thousand tons annually. These are the conclusions reached by Dr. Harlan W. Nelson and Dr. Ronald Carmichael of Battelle Memorial Institute in a report for the Atomic Energy Commission. Since the middle of 1958, the Commission has made available for sale on an unclassified basis depleted uranium from which most of the fissionable U 2 3 5 isotope has been removed. The present price for uranium containing 0.36% or less of U 2 3 5 is $5.00 per kg. of uranium contained in the form of UF 6 . With uranium readily available for
nonnuclear uses for the first time since 1942, the Commission hoped that markets would develop rapidly, at least to the pre-War level. Thus far, however, industry has shown little sign of a reawakening interest in uranium. The market for uranium, never very large, is now almost nil. From the mid1920's to World War II, consumption fluctuated in the 100 to 200 ton-peryear range. Now it is only 1 or 2 tons per year. The Battelle workers investigated the chances of fully recapturing the pre-War markets for -uranium. And they explored, as far as existing data would permit, new uses which might develop into significant markets. Before World War II, there were three principal markets for uranium. The largest of these (100,000 to 200,000 pounds per year) was the use of
Uranium's Nonenergy Markets are Hard to Find Nonenergy Consumption of Uranium in Pounds of Contained U a 0.
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uranium compounds as a coloring agent in glasses and ceramic glazes. When uranium compounds were re moved from the market in 1942, the ceramic industry soon developed satis factory alternate colorants. While uranium compounds have some ad vantages in these applications, the price of uranium would have to be re duced to one half or less of its present level if the ceramic market is to be substantially recaptured. The two other pre-War uranium markets present a somewhat similar picture. The chemical uses—as a toner and sensitizer in photography, as an analytical reagent, and in certain dyes and pigments—were never very large. Recapture of this market would have a negligible effect on the over-all pic ture. Electrical uses are also relatively minor. Uranium is used in some cases as a "getter" to clean u p gaseous im purities in vacuum tubes, and it has been used as the target in some spe cialized x-ray tubes. More promising as an outlet for sub stantial quantities of uranium are some of the potential applications explored by the Battelle workers. The major ones include:
out on uranium-iron alloys at Albany, Ore., on uranium-containing highdensity media at Boulder City, Nev., and on the use of uranium as a hydrogenation-dehydrogenation catalyst at Laramie, Wyo. And one of BuMines most intriguing studies—in combination with AEC—is to use depleted uranium as a catalyst in automobile afterburners to cut down on smog-forming emissions. Work done so far shows that this approach— which would help solve two big prob lems at one time—is technically fea sible, BuMines says.
• Replacement for zinc or mag nesium in cathodic protection systems. • Production of high-density media for mineral concentration. • Production of ferrous and nonferrous alloys for specialized applica tions. • Catalysis.
Liquefied gases—hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, helium, for example—could be moved for long distances by pipe line, according to a theoretical study just completed by National Bureau of Standards. Intermediate stations along the pipeline could supply some of the pumping energy needed and, at the same time, cool the liquid as needed by either refrigeration or flash ing. Next step by the bureau: Verify its mathematical model experimen tally.
Uses of lesser importance would be for making ballasts and control surface counterweights for aircraft, radiation shielding, and inorganic ion exchange systems. In some of these potential applica tions (counterweights and ballasts, for example) the market would be small— probably not more than a few hundred tons per year even if the price were substantially reduced. Others, such as high-density media and radiation shielding, offer more promising poten tials if the price could be made com petitive. The best possibilities here seem to be use as a catalyst and as an alloying element in high speed steels. In cooperation with AEC, the U.S. Bureau of Mines has several projects under way that could open up new markets for uranium. Groups at Rolla, Mo., are investigating cathodic pro tection anc} uranium alloy bearing metals; research is also being carried
BRIEFS Ionics, Inc., has developed a fuel cell which uses ordinary hydrogen gas and unpurified air. The experimental unit uses acidic cells, is thus not bothered by C 0 2 in the air, the com pany points out. Key points in the Ionics design: a fuel electrode com bined with a membrane similar to those the company uses to desalt water; a platinum-coated electrode; and the acidic cell containing a bro mine-bromide solution.
Titanium heat exchange tubing in a jacket of larger diameter galvanized steel pipe has handled sodium hypo chlorite solutions at up to 36° C. for three years with no signs of corrosion, according to Republic Steel, supplier of the titanium. The heat exchanger, 24 tubes, 30 ft. long, is used by Kuehne Chemical, Elizabeth, N.J., to cool the hypochlorite from the reactor before it goes to storage tanks. Norton Co., Worcester, Mass., confirms persistent rumors that it has success fully made synthetic diamonds. Ac cording to company president Milton P. Higgins, Norton has been studying effects of high pressure and tempera ture on carbon since the early 1940*8.
