Question

It has been proposed that uranium be extracted from seawater to fuel nuclear power plants. If the concentration of uranium in seawater is 3.2 g/L (i.e. 3.2x10-6 g per liter of water), how much seawater must be processed to generate one pound (1 lb = 453.6 g) of uranium

Answer 1

To obtain one pound of uranium from seawater with a uranium concentration of 3.2 µg/L, 1.42×10¹¹ liters of seawater would need to be processed. This is an illustrative example and the actual process would be much more complex.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate how much seawater must be processed to obtain one pound of uranium, given the concentration of uranium in seawater is 3.2 µg/L, we use the provided concentration to set up a proportion. First, we need to convert pounds to grams to match the units of the concentration. There are 453.6 grams in one pound. Next, we divide the desired mass of uranium by the concentration to find the volume of seawater needed:

Amount of uranium (in grams) = 453.6 g

Concentration of uranium in seawater = 3.2×10−6 g/L

Volume of seawater (in liters) = Amount of uranium / Concentration

Volume of seawater (in liters) = 453.6 g / (3.2×10−6 g/L)

Volume of seawater (in liters) = 1.42×1011 L

This calculation shows that 1.42×1011 liters of seawater would be required to extract one pound of uranium. This is a hypothetical scenario to demonstrate the concept because the process of extracting uranium from seawater is complex and involves many factors not considered in this simple calculation.