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Undeclared uranium hitches a ride on cobalt exports from Congo, study says
Philippe (left) and Manzuk quantified the amount of uranium that has been exported from the DRC in cobalt shipments or left behind in the environment. (Photo: Joel Hallberg/UW–Madison)
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University have published a study in Nature Communications that calls attention to a blind spot in nuclear nonproliferation: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has exported thousands of metric tons of uranium, and there is no accounting for where it has gone.
In partnership with Lighthouse Reports and the Financial Times, UW–Madison nuclear engineering professor and nuclear security expert Sébastien Philippe and Ryan Manzuk, a geologist and research fellow in Philippe’s group and at Princeton, conducted the study using countrywide mineralization and geochemical data.
Gary M. Stange, Michael Corradini, Robert Swader, George Petry, Thomas R. Mackie, Kevin W. Eliceiri
Nuclear Technology | Volume 197 | Number 2 | February 2017 | Pages 191-200
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-107
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Uranyl nitrate hexahydrate [UO2(NO3)2 · 6H2O] (UNH) holds interest as a potential nuclear reactor fuel for manufacturing the key medical isotope 99mTc through the production and subsequent decay of 99Mo. Fuel element design for such a production method requires knowledge of the thermal properties of the fuel material, particularly in the case of UNH, which has a significantly lower melting temperature than that of fuels being used currently. A system was designed to measure the thermal conductivity of UNH by an ASTM International standard thermal probe method. Measurements were made at four temperatures within the relevant range for the reactor system (25°C through 55°C) and with a variety of material preparations. With a fill gas of air, the results demonstrate a thermal conductivity at 25°C between 0.07 and 0.10 W · cm−1 · K−1. The results are the first step toward future studies that could lead to a more efficient reactor design with a heating source term capable of meeting the demand for 99Mo production while maintaining a safe and effective thermal margin.