Uraninite

• What is it and where is it formed?  Uraninite is the ore that uranium comes from.  Uranium can be found in most rocks but uraninite has the most.  It forms in igneous and sedimentary rocks.  It is radioactive.  Uraninite is weathered and eroded over time.  Wind and rain move it from place to place.  It usually ends up in bodies of water like lakes and streams where it settles on the bottom and forms into rock. Uranium is not found by itself in nature.

• Most uranium ore is mined by using a hot liquid or a chemical to take it out of its ore.  After that, it goes through more chemical steps until it is in the form that the buyer needs it to be.  For example, when they take it out of its ore, uranium is treated with chemicals and gases until it’s ready to use as nuclear fuel.  Then it’s sold as that.  It is usually made into uranium dioxide or any chemical form that can be used in industry.  Uraninite is mined in  France, England, the Belgian Congo, Germany, Zaire, Canada, and the United States [North Carolina, Washington].

• What is it used for?  It has a small amount of radioactivity which is why it is used in: nuclear Navy ships and submarines, weapons, nuclear reactors in power plants, atomic bombs.  It is also used on the outsides of army tanks, bullets, and missiles.  Uranium is used in ceramic glazes, fertilizers, or chemicals used in photography. 

• Interesting!  Sometimes uranium is found in a vanadium-uranium ore mixture.  During World War II, the United States was making the first atomic bomb.  They wanted to keep the uranium a secret so they bought vanadium for the project.  They were really buying the vanadium for the uranium it had in it.  The miners weren’t paid very much for vanadium and after the war, the miners sued the government for the cost of the uranium that they mined.  Many won the money.

• Interesting Information:

  • We eat food every day that has uranium in it and we breathe it in.  Most of the time it won’t hurt you because the body gets rid of most of it.  People that live near places where the federal government tested nuclear weapons get more uranium than normal.

  • There was a nuclear accident in Pennsylvania at Three Mile Island in 1979.  This stopped people from building so many nuclear reactors. Nuclear reactors use uranium. This is why we don't use uranium so much anymore.