ORNL technology moves scientists closer to extracting uranium from seawater
In short, the idea here is to string nets in ocean currents. The nets would have vast surface area… area covered by adsorbents that will selectively “grab” particles (down to atoms) of heavy metals. In this case, the adsorbents in question will collect 3.94 grams of uranium per kilogram of adsorbent in a realistic ocean environment. The worlds oceans contain about 4.5 *billion* tons of dissolved uranium.
So, it’s just about to the point where it makes economic sense to string nets here and there to strain uranium and other metals from ocean water. Instead of uranium being dug out of the ground via mining (oooh, scary, environmentally damaging mining), it can be simply drawn out of seawater – which would result in *cleaner* seawater. So… arguments against nuclear power get knocked back even further. If anyone claims to want serious answers to the end of peak oil or other energy issues, point them to the fact that uranium will soon be pretty cheap, and environmentally friendly to produce. If they do not become enthusiastic supporters of nuclear power, then their main concern isn’t clean energy, but likely some political cause.
I can only assume that the same technology can produce useful adsorbent nets to snag thorium, gold and platinum. Great news for the economy, not so much for asteroid mining. Shrug.