China’s ‘chemical trap’ targets seawater uranium, beats US benchmark 8-fold
Chinese researchers have developed a material called PhosCage that extracts uranium from seawater at eight times the efficiency of previous US benchmarks. This innovation could help China address its significant domestic uranium supply gap as it expands its nuclear power program.
Why it matters
Accessing vast oceanic uranium reserves could fundamentally alter the global nuclear fuel supply chain and energy security for nations with limited terrestrial resources.
Chinese researchers have developed a new material capable of extracting uranium from seawater at more than eight times the target rate previously set by the US department of energy, SCMP reported. This marsk a potential advancement in the global effort to tap the oceans as a vast source of nuclear fuel.The team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao recovered up to 50.4mg of uranium per gram of the material from natural seawater samples, compared with the US benchmark of 6mg per gram.The material, known as PhosCage, is a sponge-like molecular structure containing phosphate groups that chemically bind uranium.
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