The IAEA produced a report on occupational radiation protection in 2022. Natural uranium is the dominant fuel for global nuclear power programs, and an increase in the momentum of the prospecting, mining and processing of uranium is inevitable in the future as more countries adopt national nuclear-power programs. The World Nuclear Association reports:
• In the last 60 years uranium has become one of the world’s most important energy minerals.
• It is mined and concentrated similarly to many other metals.
Uranium is a naturally occurring element with an average concentration of 2.8 parts per million in the Earth’s crust. Traces of it occur almost everywhere. It is more abundant than gold, silver or mercury, about the same as tin and slightly less abundant than cobalt, lead or molybdenum.
The three main methods of producing uranium are underground mining, open pit mining and in situ leaching (ISL) (sometimes referred to as in situ
recovery, ISR). Conventional mines, either underground or open pit, are usually associated with a mill, where the ore is crushed, ground and then leached2 to dissolve the uranium and separate it from the host ore. At the mill of a conventional mine or at the treatment plant of an ISL operation, the uranium which is now in solution is then separated by ion exchange before being precipitated, dried and packed. The product, uranium oxide concentrate, is also referred to as yellow cake and mixed uranium oxide (U3O8, or UO4).
Uranium can also be recovered as a by-product from phosphate fertilizer production and from the mining of other minerals, such as copper and gold,
when the ores contain economically exploitable quantities of uranium. In such situations, the treatment process to recover uranium can be more complex.
During uranium mining and processing, workers may be exposed externally to low-levels of gamma rays emitted from the ores, process materials, products and tailings.
See www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-ofuranium/uranium-mining-overview.aspx
Depending on the mineralogy of the ore, various processes, including either sulphuric acid or alkaline (carbonate) leaching, are employed to liberate the uranium from the host ore.
Internal exposure could arise from the inhalation of long-lived radionuclide dust (LLRD) and radon and radon decay products (RDP), and through absorption, ingestion and wound contamination.
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