DE N
ANIUM 92
U R
RY
ISOTOPE BROCHURE
atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the
Uranium (92U) is a naturally occurring radioactive
element that has no stable isotope. It has two
primordial isotopes, uranium-238 and uranium-235,
that have long half-lives and are found in appreciable
quantity in the Earth's crust. The decay product
uranium-234 is also found. Other isotopes such as
uranium-233 have been produced in breeder reactors..
Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three
major isotopes, uranium-238 (99.2739–99.2752%
natural abundance), uranium-235 (0.7198–0.7202%),
and uranium-234 (0.0050–0.0059%).[3] All three
isotopes are radioactive (i.e., they are radioisotopes),
and the most abundant and stable is uranium-238,
with a half-life of 4.4683×109 years (close to the age of
the Earth)
Uranium-238 is an alpha emitter, decaying through the
18-member uranium series into lead-206. The decay
series of uranium-235 (historically called actino-
uranium) has 15 members and ends in lead-207. The
constant rates of decay in these series makes
comparison of the ratios of parent-to-daughter
elements useful in radiometric dating. Uranium-233 is
made from thorium-232 by neutron bombardment.
Uranium-235 is important for both nuclear reactors
and nuclear weapons because it is the only isotope
existing in nature to any appreciable extent that is
fissile in response to thermal neutrons. Uranium-238
is also important because it is fertile: it absorbs
neutrons to produce a radioactive isotope that
subsequently decays to the isotope plutonium-239,
which also is fissile.
TA
T O
H IS
number 92. It is an important nuclear fuel.
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and
million of Earth’s crust. Some important
actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has
92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence
electrons. Uranium is weakly radioactive because all
isotopes of uranium are unstable; the half-lives of its
naturally occurring isotopes range between 159,200 years
and 4.5 billion years. The most common isotopes in
natural uranium are uranium-238 (which has 146
neutrons and accounts for over 99% of uranium on Earth)
and uranium-235 (which has 143 neutrons). Uranium has
the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring
elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of
lead, and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. It
occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per
million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially
extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as
uraninite.
In nature, uranium is found as uranium-238 (99.2739–
99.2752%), uranium-235 (0.7198–0.7202%), and a very
small amount of uranium-234 (0.0050–0.0059%).[4]
Uranium decays slowly by emitting an alpha particle. The
half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years and
that of uranium-235 is 704 million years,[5] making them
useful in dating the age of the Earth. Many contemporary
uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties.
Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring fissile
isotope, which makes it widely used in nuclear power
plants and nuclear weapons. However, because of the
tiny amounts found in nature, uranium needs to undergo
enrichment so that enough uranium-235 is present.
Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is
fertile, meaning it can be transmuted to fissile
plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor. Another fissile
isotope, uranium-233, can be produced from natural
thorium and is studied for future industrial use in
nuclear technology. Uranium-238 has a small probability
for spontaneous fission or even induced fission with fast
neutrons; uranium-235 and to a lesser degree uranium-
233 have a much higher fission cross-section for slow
neutrons. In sufficient concentration, these isotopes
maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction. This
generates the heat in nuclear power reactors, and
produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons.
O
ILE
D APPLICA
TI
USES
Uranium (U), radioactive chemical element of
the actinoid series of the periodic table, atomic
Uranium constitutes about two parts per
uranium minerals are pitchblende (impure
U3O8), uraninite (UO2), carnotite (a potassium
uranium vanadate), autunite (a calcium
uranium phosphate), and torbernite (a copper
uranium phosphate). These and other
recoverable uranium ores, as sources of
nuclear fuels, contain many times more energy
than all the known recoverable deposits of
fossil fuels. Uranium is a very important
element because it provides us with nuclear
fuel used to generate electricity in nuclear
power stations. Uranium is a dense, hard
metallic element that is silvery white in colour.
It is ductile, malleable, and capable of taking a
high polish. In air the metal tarnishes and
when finely divided breaks into flames. It is a
relatively poor conductor of electricity. Though
discovered (1789) by German chemist Martin
Heinrich Klaproth, who named it after the then
recently discovered planet Uranus,
ADVERSE EFFECT
Uranium is a radioactive material that is very reactive. As
a result it cannot be found in the environment in its
elemental form. Uranium compounds that have consisted
during reactions of uranium with other elements and
substances dissolve in water to their own extend. The
water-solubility of a uranium compound determines its
mobility in the environment, as well as its toxicity.
Because uranium decays by alpha particles, external
exposure to uranium is not as dangerous as exposure
to other radioactive elements because the skin will
block the alpha particles. Ingestion of high
concentrations of uranium, however, can cause severe
health effects, such as cancer of the bone or liver.
Inhaling large concentrations of uranium can cause
lung cancer from the exposure to alpha particles.
Uranium is also a toxic chemical, meaning that
ingestion of uranium can cause kidney damage from its
chemical properties much sooner than its radioactive
properties would cause cancers of the bone or liver.