Mining and ore processing have a long history in the New States of Germany, Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. The ores were often mineralized with uranium and therefore the residues are a radiological hazard to man and environment. Immediately after World War II the Soviet Union started to develop its nuclear capability by mining uranium ores in the occupied zone of East Germany. At the begi...

In situ recovery (ISR) is the predominant method of uranium extraction in the United States. During ISR, uranium is leached from an ore body and extracted through ion exchange. The resultant production bleed water (PBW) contains contaminants such as arsenic and other heavy metals. Samples of PBW from an active ISR uranium facility were treated with cupric oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs). CuO-NP t...

Agricultural applications of chemical fertilizers are a world wide practice. The specific activity of uranium-238 and heavy metals in phosphate fertilizers depends on the phosphate ore from which the fertilizer produced and on the chemical processing of the ore. Composite phosphate fertilizers samples where collected and the uranium-238 specific activity, in Bq/kg, and As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Se concen...

Electricity generated from nuclear power plants is generally associated with low emissions per kWh generated, an aspect that feeds into the wider debate surrounding nuclear power. This paper seeks to investigate how life-cycle emissions would be affected by including thorium in the nuclear fuel cycle, and in particular its inclusion in technologies that could prospectively operate open Th–U-bas...

OBJECTIVES Uranium processing workers are exposed to uranium and radium compounds from the ore dust and to γ-ray radiation, but less to radon decay products (RDP), typical of the uranium miners. We examined the risks of these exposures in a cohort of workers from Port Hope radium and uranium refinery and processing plant. DESIGN A retrospective cohort study with carefully documented exposures...

This study involves the isolation and characterization of a bacterial strain capable of bioleaching molybdenum ore. Bacterial growth was observed when rock sample was incubated in 9K at 70 ºC. The isolates were identified as extremely acidophilic, thermophilic and chemolithotroph archaebacteria. Following PCR amplification of the 16S rDNA of the isolated strain, the sequencing of this region an...