'Nuclear Research Institute Develops New Technology to Extract Uranium with Over 90% Purity'

A domestic research team has developed a world-class high-purity uranium extraction technology.

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute announced on the 10th that Dr. Eun Hee-cheol's research team at the Radioactive Waste Management Division has developed a new technology that can selectively extract uranium with over 90% purity through a precipitation reaction from solutions containing various dissolved metals, and has filed a patent for it.

The research team is injecting an inorganic additive to recover uranium through a precipitation reaction. Photo by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

The technology developed by the research team was created based on conditions where nitrogen compounds selectively react with uranium. By adding hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitrogen compounds to the uranium solution, uranium is precipitated.

Uranium existing as ions in the solution is precipitated and filtered to recover uranium in a high-purity oxide form. After extracting uranium, the additives used are decomposed into water and nitrogen for treatment.

Using this technology to treat the solution can extract up to 95% high-purity uranium. This purity level is 10-20% higher than the uranium purity (75-85%) extracted by the conventional multi-stage complex process.

High-purity uranium is being extracted from uranium solution through a precipitation reaction. Provided by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

In particular, the research team expects that simplifying the process through additive injection and stirring (mixing for uniformity), and controlling it via monitoring the hydrogen ion concentration index (pH), will enhance its applicability in industrial settings.

Most importantly, if the technology developed by the research team is applied and utilized in actual sites, uranium contained in radioactive waste can be recovered and recycled, while other substances besides uranium can be treated as general waste, which is expected to have significant environmental and economic benefits.

Uranium exists dissolved in various materials from the stage of extraction from ore to post-use waste. Uranium extraction and recovery are classified as eco-friendly technologies because they efficiently utilize resources and reduce waste.

The research team plans to file patents in major uranium-producing countries worldwide to enter overseas markets and secure technological leadership.

This research has been conducted since 2021 with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT's General Research and Development Program.

Kim Taek-jin, Director of the Radioactive Waste Management Center, expressed confidence, saying, “The technology developed by the research team is a world-class uranium extraction technology that will bring a new wave to the uranium refining field.”