englishdeutsch
  • » Donate
  • » Contact & Privacy
NUCLEAR-RISKS
Stop Jabiluka Uranmine
Tokaimura
Sellafield
Atomkraft
Tschernobyl
Uranmunitioneinsatz Balkan
Uranmunition Panzerreste im Irak
Trinity
Atommüll
Gorleben
NUCLEAR-RISKS
  • Home
  • Uranium Mining
  • Uranium Weapons
  • Nuclear Energy
  • » Health effects
  • » Affected regions
  • » Resources
  • » Events
  • » Action

Uranium: a mineral beyond control

The first link in the nuclear chain

Uranium is mined for nuclear power and nuclear bombs. But too little is known about the effects of uranium mining. Every link in the nuclear chain brings risk of accident, produces nuclear waste and contaminates the environment. The nuclear catastrophe of Chernobyl or Fukushima are etched in our minds, but the environmental and health disaster caused by uranium mining barely gets a mention in the media.

read more

How is uranium mined?

Uranium is widespread across the planet in extremely low concentrations but seldom sufficiently concentrated to be economically recoverable. Uranium ore can be mined
by underground or open-cut methods, depending on its depth. The extracted ore is crushed and ground up, then treated with acid to dissolve the uranium, which is then
recovered from solution. Left over from this process is a slurry (tailings) that is collected in large tanks. Uranium may also be mined by in situ leaching (ISL), where it is dissolved from the ore-body and pumped to the surface for further processing. After drying the pulverised uranium ore is then made into "Yellow Cake", the raw material for both nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.

[Fact sheet "How is uranium mined?"]

Radioactive decay

Uranium – like all radioactive elements – undergoes a process of decay. Over long timespans, uranium releases energy and changes its form to produce other, distinct, elements in a continuous cascade. The U-238 isotope takes 4.5 billion years to decay by fifty percent – known as one “half-life” – which in turn produces different radioactive elements, creating a radioactive decay chain from uranium through to eventually reach a stable isotope of lead. Important decay products in the uranium cascade – known as “progeny” – include thorium, radium, radon gas, polonium and bismuth – all of these emit radioactive waves or particles (the release of energy during radioactive decay).

"Hibakusha worldwide" exhibition

Ausstellung Hibakusha weltweit

An IPPNW poster exhibition about 50 places in the world where the nuclear industry has harmed the environment and people's health.

Posters on uranium mining

 

  • Arlit und Akokan (Niger)
  • Black Hills/Paha Sapa (USA)
  • Church Rock/Kinłitsosinil (USA)
  • Elliot Lake (Canada)
  • Jáchymov (Czech Republic)
  • Jadugoda (India)
  • Mailuu-Suu (Kyrgistan)
  • Mounana (Gabun)
  • Olympic Dam (Australia)
  • Radium Hill (Australia)
  • Ranger Mine (Australia)
  • Rössing (Namibia)
  • Saskatchewan (Canada)
  • Shiprock/Tsé Bit'a'í (USA)
  • Spokane Reservation (USA)
  • Têwo/Diebu (China)
  • Wismut Region (Germany)
  • Witwatersrand (South Africa)

 

» All posters in the Hibakusha worldwide exhibition


Read or download the folder with the declaration of basel,
the IPPNW-resolution on uranium
and the essay "The death that creeps from the earth".