EUraniumBKPage


 * ===[[image:Buttonhome.png link="E Block - Uranium"]]=== || ===[[image:OnBackground.png]]=== || ===[[image:ButtonCurrent.png link="EUraniumCurrent"]]=== || ===[[image:ButtonAdvDis.png link="EUraniumAdvDis"]]=== ||

Uranium is a silvery gray metallic chemical element with the atomic symbol 'U' and atomic number 92. The usage of uranium in its natural oxide form dates back to the year 79 CE when it was used in ceramic glazes to add a yellow color. Such glass with one percent uranium oxide was found in Italy in 1912. Beginning in the late Middle Ages, pitchblende was extracted in Bohemia and later used for coloring in the glass making industry. Until the early 19th century, these were the only known sources of uranium ore. German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth found uranium to be after dissolving pitchblende in nirtic acid and neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. He assumed the yellow residue from the oxide was a undiscovered element. He than named his newly discovered element after the planet Uranus. Uranus was derived from the primordial Greek god of the sky. Antoine Henri Becquerel found radioactivity with uranium in 1896 by leaving a sample of uranium salt on top of an unexposed photographic plate in a drawer and observing that the plate had become slightly fogged. He concluded that a form of invisible light or rays emitted by uranium had exposed the plate. The most notable and visible use of uranium is when it is used to fuel nuclear power plants. To produce about 80 terajoules (8 x 10^3 joules) one kilogram of uranium is used. New Mexico currently has no nuclear power plants. Uranium production is around 60,00 tonnes per year, but much of the market is being supplied from stockpiles and secondary sources including material dismantled from nuclear weapons. It is difficult to calculate how much nuclear powered electricity enters the state from out of state plants. A rough estimate would be as little as ten percent to as much as thirty percent at any given time.

The closest nuclear power plant to the state of New Mexico is located in Arizona.