Uses Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive metal. It has two principal uses: nuclear bombs and nuclear electricity generation. These uses are not mutually exclusive. In recent years, uranium has also been used as armour for tanks and projectiles. The world's first uranium mine was located in Port Radium, Northwest Territories and the first uranium refinery, used to enrich uranium for the allies World War II atom bomb project, was in Port Hope, Ontario. Much of the uranium for the Cold War nuclear arms race came from Port Radium and Rayrock, NWT; Uranium City, Saskatchewan; and Bancroft and Elliot Lake, Ontario. During this time, many uranium miners were exposed to dangerous levels of radioactivity. At least 100 uranium workers at Port Radium have died from cancer or cancer related lung disease and the rates of cancer among workers at other uranium mines is far higher than the general populace. The federal government knew of the dangers of uranium mining as early 1932 but declared it safe in 1958 and did not compensate any victims until 1973. The uranium-related deaths of members of the Dene from Deline, NWT is under investigation by Health Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs and Natural Resources Canada. By 1965, military sales had ended and all uranium subsequently mined in Canada was sold for reactor fuel. Today, Canada remains the world's largest producer and exporter of uranium. Most Canadian uranium now comes from rich surface deposits around the Athabasca Rim in Northern Saskatchewan. Canada exports uranium all over the world. Major buyers have been the US, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Finland. Processing Uranium is widely distributed in the earth's crust and is concentrated in certain rock formations. In the case of surface deposits, uranium ore is dug from open pits. Deeper deposits require underground mining techniques. Close to each mine is a mill which crushes the rock and separates out the uranium. Most of the pulverized rock stays behind as radioactive sands and slimes called tailings, which remain hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years. The extracted uranium, called yellowcake, undergoes many chemical transformations. In Canada, it is first trucked to Ontario, where refineries at Blind River and Port Hope work in tandem to convert yellowcake into (1) uranium dioxide, for domestic use as fuel for CANDU reactors, or (2) uranium hexafluoride, for export and subsequent enrichment. Uranium hexafluoride (or "hex") is a compound of uranium that becomes a gas when heated slightly. In gaseous form, uranium can be "enriched". Enriched uranium is needed for almost all research reactors, most non-Canadian power reactors, and nuclear weapons. Uranium enrichment is a sophisticated technology -- and a strategic one, since it can be used to make nuclear explosives. All nuclear weapons states have enrichment plants. Canada does not. Canada exports uranium in the form of "hex". It is sent first to a nuclear weapons state (US, UK, France or Russia) for enrichment, and then to an overseas customer for use as reactor fuel. Countries buying Canadian uranium must promise not to use it for weapons. However, an Environmental Panel in Saskatchewan recently warned there is evidence that some Canadian uranium still finds its way into bombs.
Photo copyright Robert Del Tredici
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