SYMPHOS 2013, Agadir, Kingdom of Morocco, May 2-10, 2013
Uranium - the hidden treasure in phosphates
Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Dr. h.c. Ewald Schnug; Technical University Braunschweig –
Faculty 2 Life Sciences, Pockelsstraße 14, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Dipl.-Ing. Nils Haneklaus; Institute of Nuclear Technology and Energy Systems (IKE),
University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Political driven subsides favour “energy-farming“, despite „taking food from the poor“
and diminishing biodiversity, inreases production intensity, thwarts the efforts of
cross-compliance, promotes “silent sealing“, and increases the emission of clima gases from
soils (CO2 from humus decomposition and liming, NOX from N-fertilization) and
therefore contributes to clima change
and it´s consequences.
Fuel or food, rich versus poor!
The dark side of P-fertilization…
“Fertlizer“
Lithography by
Andreas Paul
Weber, 1964
Mineral Pfertilizers
contain on an
average
259 mg Uran
per kg P2O5
Evidence for agricultural influence on U in water
Tab. XX: Uranium and nitrate concentrations in neighbouring shallow (7-9m)
and deep (70-90m) wells of two waterworks in southern Germany (2008 data).
Location
Straubing
Rehlingen
Well type
shallow
deep
shallow
deep
U (µg/L)
NO3 (mg/L)
2.8
< 0.2
10
1.6
40.0
2.8
22.0
8.2
At an annual application rate of 9 g/ha U
applied with 22 kg/ha P a steady state
concentration of 22 µg/L U is expected in the
percolating water.
(modelled by Jaques et al., 2008)
Proposed action to protect soils and water bodies
from fertilizer-derived uranium:
Limit the input of U to soils by fertilization through regulation of U in mineral P
fertilizers to 1 g/ha*a U at GAP*:
Fertilizers with < 5% P2O5:
Limit for declaration: 1 mg U per kg fresh material
Limit for trading: 1.5 mg U per kg fresh material
Fertilizers with > 5% P2O5:
Limit for declaration: 20 mg U per kg P2O5
Limit for trading: 50 mg U per kg P2O5
IMC Agrico Phosphate Processing Plant, Florida
- Photograph by Michael Connett, 2001-
* GAP: Good Agricultural Practice = 50 kg/ha*a P2O5
What if …………………………………………………..
If the critical values given above would have been applied to this
samples 30% would have had to show a declaration of the Cd
content and a 15% of would have been banned from trading
because of exceeding Cd concentrations. In case of U on for 25%
of them a declaration for U concentration would have been
required and nearly 50% of them would be not marketable.
On an average during
the last 10 years in
Germany alone 167 T
uranium were spend
every year with
mineral P-fertilizers….
To compare: in the German repository for nuclear waste
“Bergwerk ASSE II“ are stocked “only“ in total 102 T U
(equivalent to approx. 201 T natural U) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BUT:
Whereto with the uranium in mineral P-fertilizers?
Energetical and ecological characteristic of energy sources
Energy source
Energy
density in
Electricity
produced
CO2
Emission
Landuse
in
MJ/kg
in kWh/kg
in g/kWh
ha/1,000MW
1 kg Firewood
12
1
1851
1 kg Coal
33
3
1000
1 kg Oil
46
4
814
1 kg Natural gas
54
5
480
235
600,000
50,000
3,456,000
288,000
1 kg U (0.7% U)
235
1 kg LEU (3.5% U)
5,333,333
32
768
Solar
27
12,961
Wind
24
51,842
22
125,000
1 kg Water (pot. at 100m dam height)
0.00008
0.001
Sources:
http://www.physik.uni-muenchen.de/lehre/vorlesungen/wise_06_07/ep1/vorlesung/skript26_5_2.pdf
http://www.xemplar.ca/de/about_uranium.php
http://www.co2-emissionen-vergleichen.de/Stromerzeugung/CO2-Vergleich-Stromerzeugung.html
Deal. J. (2010) “Night with a futurist”. Webinar of the The DaVinci Institute. PO Box 270315. Louisville. CO 80027. USA. January 10, .2010.
On an average during
the last 10 years in
Germany alone 167 T
uranium were spend
every year with
mineral P-fertilizers….
Safe Nuclear PowerThe Gen4 Module has incorporated advanced safety features like
LBE coolant, an underground vault, and decay heat removal.
… which contained
enough energy to
supply 2,350,000
average sized German
housholds and equals
the energy of firewood
harvested from
5,600,000 ha forest.
From 10 g U (corresponding to a Pfertilization of 22 kg/ha P according
to GAP) 500 kW of energy can be
produced. Compared to the same
amount of energy derived from coal
this saves a total of 500 kg CO2. At a
CO2–tax of 0.08€/kg this equals a
value of 40 €/ha.
The monetary value of 10 g U (as
yellow cake) amounts actually
(28.1.2010) 1.11 €, the costs of the
22 kg P 32 €.
The message to politicians
and decision makers:
.... Avoid subsidiesed biomass based
energy farming, regulate U in
phosphorus fertilizers, pay farmers a
clima bonus for using U depleted
fertilizers!
Uranium retrieved from mineral P-fertilizers –
Goslar,
Neue
Strasse
21
An unconventional
contribution of
agriculture to climate
protection ?!?!?!
Hyperion Nuclear Unit
Uranium in world P-resources can feed the
nuclear energy cycle for 350 years
Cleaner fertilizers
(source: Hu et al., 20
Cleaner soils
Cleaner waters
Cleaner atmosphere
Increased profitability of fertilizer manufacturing
(World U resources actually: approx. for 50 more years)
Thank you for your attention!