Cost estimation of uranium recovery from seawater with system of braid type adsorbent

Tamada, Masao; Seko, Noriaki; Kasai, Noboru; Shimizu, Takao*

Uranium cost in the annual collection of 1200 t-U from seawater was evaluated by using the recovery system of braid type adsorbents synthesized by radiation-induced graft polymerization. The total cost was calculated by summating those in the processes of adsorbent production, uranium recovery, and elution & purification. When the adsorbent performance increased from 2g-U/kg-adsorbent(ad) to 6 g-U/kg-ad, the cost of each process decreased in the same way. The increment of adsorbent durability of 6 times to 60 times reduced the process cost of adsorbent production especially. In the current state of 2 g-U/kg-ad and 6 times usage of adsorbent, the uranium from seawater cost 90 thousands yen/kg-U. The uranium cost becomes 2.5 thousands yen/kg-U in the promising performance of 4 g-U/kg-ad and 18 times usage of adsorbent.