- China successfully extracted kilograms of uranium from seawater under real marine conditions
- The oceans contain far more uranium than all known land deposits combined
- The concentration of uranium in seawater is extremely low, making recovery technically demanding
Chinese scientists have revealed successful kilogram-scale extraction of uranium from seawater under real-world marine conditions, a milestone that goes beyond laboratory testing.
The announcement was made through state-linked nuclear institutions and was linked to the operation of a dedicated offshore testing platform in the South China Sea.
Seawater contains uranium at extremely low concentrations, around 0.003 ppm, making recovery technically demanding and energy-intensive.
Marine uranium attracts long-term interest
Despite this low concentration, the sheer volume of the oceans means that the total uranium content is vast, far exceeding known terrestrial reserves.
The claim to extract 1,000 g therefore signals a controlled demonstration rather than a commercial breakthrough.
Conventional uranium mining relies on limited onshore deposits, many of which face constraints related to cost, geopolitics and environmental pressures.
Estimates from international nuclear agencies put economically recoverable terrestrial uranium at several million tons, enough for centuries at current reactor consumption rates.
On the other hand, sea water contains around 4.5 billion tonnes of uranium, continually renewed by geological processes.
This has led to years of research into adsorption materials and marine extraction systems, while the recent Chinese test adds data but does not solve the fundamental problem of costs.
The reported extraction relied on a large marine testing platform designed to validate the materials under real ocean conditions, including currents, biofouling and corrosion.
Officials described advances in adsorption materials and scale-up experiments, suggesting incremental improvements rather than disruptive leaps.
Extracting uranium from seawater requires repeated deployment, recovery, and chemical treatment of absorbent materials, and each step incurs energy and maintenance costs.
No public data has been provided on extraction efficiency, energy yield, or projected costs per kilogram, which remain key to assessing feasibility.
Without these measurements, the kilogram figure serves primarily as proof of controlled operation.
China’s stated ambition to achieve what it describes as “unlimited battery life” by 2050 is linked to the long-term availability of nuclear fuel rather than short-term technological change.
Nuclear power relies on uranium as a primary energy source, and the scale of accessible uranium directly affects the operating life of reactors without supply constraints.
If uranium could be extracted from seawater on an industrial scale, the nuclear fuel supply would shift from limited terrestrial deposits to a continually replenished natural resource.
However, international assessments suggest that advanced reactors, recycling systems and breeder systems could increase the availability of uranium even without seawater extraction.
In this context, the maritime effort represents an additional option whose practicality remains to be resolved.
Although the oceans offer a huge theoretical resource, translating it into a reliable and economical fuel would require advances that have not yet been made public.
The kilogram mined marks progress, although its significance depends entirely on whether future data supports claims of large-scale sustainable mining.
Via IT reception (originally in Chinese)
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