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Uranium and Depleted Uranium

• Tags:
• earth,
• tin,
• concentrations,
• uranium

Overview Uranium was apparently formed in super novae about 6.6 billion years ago. While it is not common in the solar system, today its radioactive decay provides the main source of heat in the earth's core, causing convection and continental drift. As decay proceeds, the final product, lead, increases in relative abundance. Uranium (chemical symbol U) is slightly more abundant than tin and about 40 times as common as silver. It occurs in most rocks in concentrations of 2 to 4 parts per million and is as common in the earth’s crust as tin, tungsten and molybdenum. It is also found in the oceans, at an average concentration of 1.3 parts per billion. There are a number of locations in different parts of the world where it occurs in economically-recoverable concentrations. When mined, it yields a mixed uranium oxide product, (U3O8). Uraninite or pitchblende is the most common uranium mineral.

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