EIR - Bericht Nr. 252

EIR-Bericht Nr. 252

Eidg. Institut flr Reaktorforschung Wirenlingen
Schweiz

Thorium, Uranium, other Metals and
Materials from Earth’'s Crust Rocks

M. Taube

Wiirenlingen, April 1974
Abstract

The general use of the rocks of the earth's c¢rust as a source
of nuclear energy (from thorium-uranium extracted with 30%
efficiency), and a source of metals {aluminium, iron ete.),

a source of ceramics {cement, glass, quartz) and other ma-
terials is discussed. The proposal is to use their source

to meet the needs of a future stable civilization requiring a
unit power production of some 20 kw per capita and source
material supply of 1 tonne per capita per year (additional to
recycling). The impact of this on the philosophy a reactor

development is also discussed.

I. General Iemargs

The aim of thie paper is to cubline and discuss the poasible
future sources and flows of energy in the next 50 to 200
vears, in the world as a whole, and more especlially in
Switzerland. It iz a conbinustion of the well known ides

of &, Weinberg of rooks burningt,

It can be debated that any numerical or guantitative evalu~
ations on these toplcs have 1little value at the present {ime,
but the author iz of the firm opinion that such an evalu=
ation could have an impact on the philoesophy of reactor deve-

lopment especislly in the gqualitative cholice of reactor type.

Since it seems to take some 20 years from paper studies o
full reactor operations {of a new type} and a further 30-HQ
years of 1ife, then the minimur tinme scale we ghould congi-

der i3 of the ordey of 50 yvears.

II. ¥World energy development, and the csse of Switzerland

It is well known thabt the number of prognoses for the future
development of cur civilization is egual to the number of
papers on the subject. Here the following sssumptions have

been made,

1. The world population increases conbinuously to 9=-10 x 109

people after 200 yvears and then reducss bto a 5tabla level
of 8 x 109 pecple {(for Switzerland - today & x lflfi pecple,

in the next 50 years 8 x 106 and then stablilization},.
The

The abundance of available energy sources is the mogst

important factor in the development of any civilization.

The regeneration of the natural environment is one of
the most important factors in considering the transfor-

mation of matter into energy.

Qur civilization achieves a steady state level in approx
200-250 years and this level will have the following

characteristics

- production of fresh materials (from ores ete.) would

be a factor 2-3 times lower than at present.
- recycling will, therefore, be greatly increased.

- the spectrum of material use will be drastically
altered.

- the free energy available for these needs will be

increased per capita mean by approx 10 times.

size of the fissile material requirement

The

for

calcualtions are made on the following basis:

1 MWA(t) E 1.1 g fissile nuclide (F.N.)
1 MWyear (e) 1.0 kg fissile nuclide (F.N.)

112

and therefore

e

400 ton FN
0.4 ton FN

1 TW(t) year
1 GW({t) year

1}

the far distant future, for the steady state case:

World:
8 Giga people x 20 kw per capita gives
160 TW{t) % 6L4'000 ton FN/year

4

Fig. 1 Energy Growth: World and Switzerland
8 — T 8
World Swiss
Population Population
Giga Mega Persons
Persons
- — |
Population
Q T e — T ; | 0
20
KW
per
Capita
1 G-
Energy Need
per Head
0 T T T I  C——

200 - — 200
World Swiss
T-watts Gwatts

100 — T—100

Total Energy
Need
B T T T T i T
1970 2070 2170
Fig., 2 Development of new World Enerpgy

Sources in the Future
200 7

Energy

150 7

il
TW l(/r_

4// Sun/Satellite?

A

100 7. =TT |
T
Fmsipn
50 =

1970 2000
[ )

Switzerland:

8 Mega people x IZ2 kW per capita gives

0.1 TW{ty ¥ U0 ton FN/year

Por a period of leb ug say 1000 vears steady civilization

&

World regquirements: 68 x 107 ton FH

3

Swiss requirements: 40 x 107 ton FH

OF course the development of other energy sources will change
and may dramatically after the assumptions given above, bub

fig. & makes the arbitrary assumptions clear.

Here the asswuption of fission energy covers approx 173 of
all ensrgy needs and thus the dateg given above are too big

onliy by & factor 3 in the worst case.

I1T. Uranium=-Thorium sources in ores, granites and the sarbth's

crust

The most ilmportant assumption made here is that the Pission
enargy is the main scurce of free energy not only in the nsxt
century but alsc in later periods. AL present uranium is pe~

covered from bthe following ores.,
USA ores 1800 ppM
Canada ores 1100 ppM
South Africa ores 250 ppM
Other West Hemisphere ores 1940 ppM
Mean for West Hemisphere 820 ppM

It must be stressed that at the present time the "uranium
ores™ have a commercial value of approx. 203% per kg of USOB

even if the uranium contents equals only 250 ppM!

But as is well known the mean distribution of uranium and
thorium in the earths crust is approximatly 12 ppM for hoth
elements. The proportion of these fissicnable elements is
higher in the granites (typical continental rocks) and
reaches 50 ppM. In the basalts (typical oceanic rocks) it
is lower at about 1 ppM (see fig. 3).

Of course in the continental rocks there are some signifi-
cant accumulations of uranium and to save extent thorium. The
probable amounts of high and low grade ores are given in fig.

Y (rough estimates).

IV. Resources of other elements

An underlying feature of the arguments developed in this paper
is that the extraction of the fissionable nuclides U and Th
from the rocks of the earth's erust must be coupled with the
extraction of all the utilizable elements from these cources,
which must decrease the cost of the recovery of all appro-

priate elements,
2 of
Earth'is
Crust

100

3 Compméitimn of Earth's Crust

Barth's erust 16 km mean

0.4 of Zarth's mass
= 2.4 x 1019 ton

2
E
basalt is granite iz a
an oceanic continental rock
ook '
Uranium Ores Uranium Thorium con-
e s e s centbration
- : . ~1 2 ~50 ppM U + Th
50~ ~1000 pp¥ & )
sporadicaly
Dy
A0 &
20 - Il
L3
10 g
- . v |
Sediment (4%} =
ot
Carbonate ’
* . oo Maanny

Sand

104
$/ke

1000

500

200

100

50

20

Fig. Y

U + Th World Reserves

o
O
o
P
@
L) Basal
g (Gceanic)
O
o
0 .
X O Granlkes
E {(continental)
-
[P
0
o
=
-1 +
E
~
o
=
o
[
—
o
—t— ©
>
P
~
~
- The future world
g demand of U + Th
1 equals ~10°2 ion
per year (chp., III)
1000 Uranium .
some sedlments
‘ | I8 | | _ I | | | |
10° 107 10° 109 1010 101t 1012 113 (oY 4010
tons U + Th
10

In table 1 are given the sbundance of chemical 2lements in
the sarthts crust. OFf course there is some disagreement aboutb
tnis data in different referencez bub for our purposes the

influence of these uyncertainties is not great.

Fig. % shows the distribution of the most sbundant elements
{in the earth’s crust) versus the slectronegativity accor-
ding te Pauling and periodic table. This gives tne first in-
dication conecerning the thermodynamie stability of the possib-
le chemical compounds such as sllicates, alumosilicates and

30 DI,

We abttempt here to discuss the technical and energetical
fegtures of the industrisgl extractions of these components

of £he rocks in the fubure.

We can make a very simplified caleulation based on the

following:

Take first 1 ton of each of the today's commercially impor-
tant ores larbitrarily chozen) providing the following eleven

matals
Fe, 41, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, 3o, Ag, 8&u, b
totalling 11 ftons of ores.

Commercial ores today contain approx the following amountis

of metal

e 20%; AL 30%; Cr %0 %; Mn 20%; NI 1%; Cu 0.5%; Zn 4¥;
Sn 0,2%; Ppb 2% A 0.0%%; Au 0.,005%.
Table 1

1 ton

Number A Element

1 8 0
2 16 Si
3 13 Al
Yy 26 Fe
5 20 Ga
6 11 Na
7 19 K
8 12 Mg
9 22 Ti
10 1 H
11 15 P
12 25 Mn
13 9 r
14 56 Ba
15 38 Sr
16 16 5
17 6
18 4o Zr
19 23 v
20 24 Cr

Z = atomic number

(p =

466
277

M
o
H = = W W o\

11

2.8 kg/dm°) ~ 357 dm

kg*

Number

21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
21
38
39

* Approx all metals for metallurgy

** Only partially for metallurgy
Other metals for ceramics ete.

Element abundance in Earth's Crust

>

Z Element

37 Rb g0
28 Ni 75
30 Zn 70
58 Ce 60
23 Cu 55
39 Y 33
57 La 30
60 Nd 28
27 Co 25
21 Se 22
7 N 20
41 Nb 20
3 Li 20
31 Ga 15
82 Pb 13
5 B 10
90 Th 10
50 Sn 3
Q2 u 2.4

80 Hg 0.08
78 Ft 0.01

Energy carriers

09 0
»+

0 03 09 O3 09 Q2 09 Q2 O3 09 (Oa 09 (9 On (R 09 O9

o

*

*

+

4+

5
1

Fig, 5 The 16 most important components

of rocks
: 4
T Tk G Mo

IIT o
Pariodie
Table

Iv
Hank

v

VI

Vil

electronegativity {eV)
13

The total amount of metals produced from the 11 tons of ores
is approx 1078 kg. The mean value of the commercial ores 1s

therefore

1073 kg metal

§iE

10 % by weight
11000 kg ores

The earth’'s crust contains the elements listed 1n table 2
among others. The total amount of metal there is 130 kg in
1000 kg or 13 weight §. Thus the earth's crust taken as a
wheole has the same approximately total content of metals as
a mean mixture of commercial ores, if the ratios of metals

could be changed in an appropriate way.

From fig. 6 it can be seen that the ratio of metal concen-
tration in commercial ores varies from less than 10 (e.g.
Fe, A1) to more than 1000 {Pb, Mo, Ta, Sn, Ag, Au, Hg, Sh)
280
50
T 20 for Uranium + Thorium in the earth's crust.

but only % 5 for Uranium + Thorium in granites and only
280
12
{Note: based on the very low, but still commercial uranium

ores from South Africa).

A rather important conclusion can be drawn from fig., 7. We
have arbitrarily assumed that the most metal ~ iron is
extracted from the earth in a "resonable"” way - that is pro-
protioned to its abundance in the earth crust by assuming
the ratio

annual world production at 1960

for Fe = 1
abundance in the earth's crust

14

Table 2 Contents of some metals in ores and in earth crust

Present in present in earth
commercial commercial crust
ores ores
{weight %)
Fe 20 200 50
Zn i 40 0,07
Cu 0.5 5 0.055
Pb 2 20 0.013
Al 20 300 81
Cr 30 200 0.2
51 0.2 2 0.003
Ni 1 10 0.08
Ay 0.005 0.050 0.000005%
Ag 0.05 0.5 0.00001
Mn 20 200 1
Metals 1077 kg 130 kg
Total
Ores 11 tonne 1 tonne
weignt 1 I tonge T 10* tones * 13

Note: This table does not give a good picture because the
amounts of metal actually used are probably in ancther

ratio to the simplest one used here 1°1.1...
Weight %

Content

1 pqfl 10 PPM lDOlppM

Cr in Olivin

1000 ppM

apuBpUNgE

18NJI0 8,U3.dI8a SNSISA SaJd)

T

9

|
1

| i
10 10

FElements Earth's abundance

2

|
107 104

E per ton of earth's crust

T
Fig. 7 World Production from 'fresh ores'
versus abundance

excess production

factor

0.001 % 0.001 % 0.01 % 0,1 % 1% 10 %
T T y 1 LI T 1 i
=2 -1 2 4 5
10 10 1 10 10 103 10 10

Natural Abundance (earth's crust)

= el

g per Tonne

World production 1960 tons/year

91

17

Then we classify the other metals in the following classes:

- metals being extracted more or much more than the ‘*natural

ratio!' e.g. Pb, Sn, Ag, Au, Cd, Hg, W, Zn

~ metals being eXtracted in the right proportion
Fe (reference) Mn, Cr and U (when taken together with

Thorium)

- metals being extracted at a too low rate
Al (the most important!)
Mg, Ti, Zr, Mg, Co.

From this we might draw the following coneclusion: if we are
to operate a technology of metals use without waste or with
the minimum of waste than the ratio of the extracted metals
should be in accordance with the ratio existing in the earth's
crust. Of course such an alteration in the relative and ab-
solute amounts of extracted metals will have a vital impact

on the technology.

V. Energy Balance for element extraction from the earth's crust

The jump from using the classical ores to the use of the
earth's crust generally as a source of material clearly
means an increase of free energy needed for element (or

compound) extraction.
18

Questions to be answered

- are the potential energy sources large enough to meet

this increased demand?

-~ is the increase in energy consumption a fair price to
pay and a positive solution from the point of view of

environmental policy?

The first of these gquestions is discussed here. The second

ig discussed elsewhere,

As can be seen from table 3, from 1 ton of rock with a

mean elementary abundance for complete extraction and trans-
formation of all components to free elements requires, if a
electrolysis in molten salt media (e.g. chloride) is postu-
lated.

- theoretically (100% efficieney) = 11 Gigajoules (GJ)

)

- practically (20% efficiency) 55 @J

{Remark: part of this energy in form of electrical energy,

and part of heat)

For processing 1 ton of rock per capita per year the free

energy requirement almost equals

55 GJd/year
5'15x10? s/year

= 1700 watts/capita

19

Table 3 Free energy for extraction from 1 tonne of rocks
{simplified earth's crust chemical composition)

Ele~ In 1000 kg of Oxide Mol Free ent- Free ent-
halpy KJ/ halpy for

ment rock Oxygen mol oxide dissociation
kg mol (in 1000 kg (@J) (theo-
rock) retically)
51 277 10,000 Si02 20.000 700 7.0
Al 81.3 3.000 A1205 ,500 670 2.01
Fe 50 9S00 FeOl 5 1.200 200 0.18
Ca 36.3 880 Ca0 880 530 0.47
Na 28.3 1.200 N320 600 280 0.33
K 26.0 680 K20 340 220 0.23
Mg 21,0 860 MgO 860 540 0.46
total
0 Le6 29.000 =-=-- 28.380 3,68
without 3102
10,68
with Si0_

2
20

Considering the contents of 1 ton of earth's crust from the
point of view of the possible free energy carried (see table

1) we get

™ + U ~12 g

{the problem of lithium as a possible source of tritium for

cussed here for the reasons given in chapter 1.)

He) 3T reaction or 'Li (n,nuHe) 3T is not dis-

We assume for the U + Th extraction efficiency a figure of
0.30 (but there no limitation for e.g. a two or three times

higher effieciency) which gives:

(1 ton earth's crust rocks per year and capita)

12 g/ton x 0.30 x 8.6 x 10°° J/g U,Th .

7 10.9 kW/capita
3.15 x 10

s/year

(1 ton granites per year and capita)

1

11

50 g/ton x 0,30 x 8.6 x 10+9 J/g U,Th 41 kW/capita

e

3.15 x 10" s/year

With these assumptions we arrive at the following coneclusions:

Processing of 1 ton per capita/per year of 'earth's crust
rock' regquires 1.7 kW (tot) even with only 30% extraction effi-
ciency of thorium, uranium produces power of 11 ky or 6.5

times more.
21

The zame calculation for granites {1 ton per year per caplital
gives an power of 41 kw per capita which is 24 times mors
than i3 needed for the extraction of the metals, or in other
words about H.1% of the energy avallable i3 used for mineral
extraction. In the URBA at the present time the raw matsrial
praduction requires 5.6% and electreolysis 1.1% making a total
of 6.7% of the total energy consumpbilon.

Table Y The efficiency {n)} of metal extraction and metal

regyeling in terms of energy {in kW-hr/ton metal)

"Fresh? extraction Recyeling
frec fres Recyeling:
Mstal ENePrEyY snergy efficlency Technology efficiency
theovret. pract. n & practimlly %
Mg 1208 91000 1.3 1355 75
Al H&O0 R20G0 9 1300 28
be GH1 4500 24 1240 60
{Fe ores) '
Fe = ~ }
(Ti ores) Gh7 2HO0 45
G oy 13500 2.5 £30~1500 25=-5
Ti 2885 140000 2 33000 28

Fig. 4 gpives the present and possible future Fflows of mabterial

£ the assumptlons made here are correct.
22

Fig. 8 Material Fiows Present

Future

according this

1 tonne/capita paper

Food, plants ///////////
b by /////////////////g ™

Sand, Gravel ", 7
v

Coal Lignite W
Limestone V/// > 5///4/4

Petroleum %
Iron Ore ///

>

Copper ore ,// A
A4

Phosphate 3?’
/]

Salt a ’/

Total | > 4 fonne/capita 1 tonne

23

VI. Size of present and future material flows

One of the future aims of environmental protection among
others will be without doubt the reduction in the amount
of materials extracted from natural deposits per capita.

We include here the waste together with the main products.

The present state of material flows seems to be far from
the optimal (or rather far from a reasonable minimum). The
material flow per capita per year is approx 4 tons without
taking into account the large amounts of spoill {open cast
mining ete.) moved, loss of agricultural land and disposal

off wastes,.

VII. Earth's crust rocks as an energy material source

To some extent the achievement of using rocks as a source of
fissionable nuclides (or fissionable nuclides) depend on the
ability to produce metal and ceramic¢ materials as by-pro-

ducts of the process.

In table 5 is given a very simplified and approximate divi-
sion of the earth's crust material for the preoduction of some

materials.
24

The results seem to indicate (for 1 ton rock/per capita)

Metals total 130 kg/year

Aluminium 70.0 kg

Iron . 45,0

Magnesium 10.0

Titanium h,0

Manganese 0.9

Zirconium 0.15

Vanadium 0.12

Chromium 0.1

Nickel 0.07

Zine 0.06

Copper Q.05
Cement 100 kg/year
Glass 200 kg/year
Quartz 100 kg/year

"Silicon"-plastics 100 kg/year

(C & H from other sources)
Other (fillings) 250 kg

I'ree oxygen 150 kg
Table 5

Earth's crust rocks as potential source of material

Element kg in Pure Cement Glass Quartz "Silicons” Other Non
1 tonne metals (semiorga- material metallice
nic plastics) (nondefi~ elements
ned)
Q 466 70 23 90 50 - 143 150
free

Si 277 - 12 70 50 50 95 -
Al 51 70 3 - - ~ 8 -
Fe 50 45 5 - - - - -
Ca 26 - 30 6 - - - -
Na 28 - - 20 - - 8 -
K 26 - - 10 - - 16 -
Mg 21 10 10 1 ~ - ~ -
Ti 4.4 Y - - - - - -~
H 1.4 - - - - - - -
P 1.1 - ~ - - - d.1 -
Mn 0.9 0.9 - - - - - -
F 0.6 - - - = - 0.6 -
Ba 0.4 - - - - - - -
S 0.25 - - - - =, - 0.25
c 0.20 ~ - - - 30

Total 130 93 197 100 100 274 150

*

From carbonate rocks

62
26

Table 6  Amounts of materials in use per capita

Postulated Reeyeling Time of life Amounts in

Material production (kg/year) by users continuous use
(kg/year) (years) (kg/capita)
| 12 times

Metals 130 1500 25 37,500

2 times
Cemant 100 300 40 12,000
5 times
Glass 200 1000 10 15,000
Quartz 100
5 times
"Silicons" 100 500 5 2,500
plastics
1 time
Other 270 270 100 27,000

VIII TImpact on the philosophy of reactor development

From all these developments we can suggest the following as

that which might result in the development of reactor technology.

- the breeder reactors, both with Unat/Pu-239 and Th/U-233
fuel ecycles could provide a total energy production of

approximately 10,000,000 TW years.

that is a 160 TW civilization (8 Gigapeople with 20 kw/capita)
for about one hundred thousand years even when one ten thoudandth

part of the rocks will be burned.
27

- the breeder must in the future use both uranium and
thorium and, therefore, probably both fast and thermal
breeders are of interest {(fig. 9, 10).

- the impact of the extraction of U + Th from the earth's crust

rocks is small (see table 7).

- the use of the rocks for U + Th extraction must be coupled

with the complex recovery of other materials, metals etc.

- the power production could be totally independant from the
suppliers of 'energy carriers' (no monopoly of energy

sources),

- the large amount of radicactive waste (fission)} need not be
stored but rather burned up in a high neutron flux reactor,

or an accelerator.

- the cost of all these additional processes will be signi-

ficant but not crucial.

If the so called ‘environmental taxes' (or entropy taxes) pro-
posed for the future come into effect then the penalty of these

new processes will be small and even negative (a profit).
Crust

Parth's

28

Spheme of Yideal' energy and material flux

anually and per capita in fubure.

neat

I,

ff

1 bonns

gieclyrlelLy

ffigzzzgzzkwn

prod

YOI IIE,

&

L

S

. —
granitfifi;f;ffg”
mining Lo

Stable F S Power

Mo, 2r, W iR, 2.

plant ana’ff{;// "
N GOV

| UeTh

System

{ breeding u
"ransformation of
and decay j-ms

3 )

o,

i

Energy
Use
Dissipation of hi
Disgipation
without :
o o 3 r
recycling P )
:‘«*‘ f p&‘: {
)
ned’
£,
£ New ;
P : Products | 4
. 'Mf I 4
Material S
Use /
d

._\\x§

|
ARANNEY, AR NSNS

metals,

N

plags
guartz
camant
othear
~1L ton/yr

E

4
.

!f
SFA

ATMOSFHERE
COSMIC

New Muel
29

Fig., 10 Schematic Reactor Arrangement

Granite o~ ~Metals (ff#_hfifi\\
— ——
Energy

stable NucligEEMaterial -
8 Plant Cement , Glas$ . -
Th,U ].J,Tg ete. [ .l
AR BT T W T T B
N \\1\\ NN \\\\ N RN DN o
N a\\ \\x \\\ \\\-\\. IE N . \\ \
\\‘\;\/\\/\“}\j\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \\ \\ \i\ l\\\\\\\
N\ AL EAL TN
“\ \:/ Fuel 3 > A o8
\\\\\\/; Reprocessifizf_ | 2 Zi: __J ;;x\ N
WA NI BTSN
\\\ ? Heprocessing; ::T nd - ;O?\l\
LY % -
: \\\‘5//\_‘//\%/,(/ = cfff’,fl(////(/?\ -
30

Table 7 Impact of the extraction U + Th from rocks

&)

Bj

o)

Price of plutonium = 10.000 $/kg

1 kg Pu = lflfixlafixfi,fixlflfl Jd = 8.6xlfil§ {tog) = B,Qxlfil3J
(el)
3.4 % 1050 T (el) 7
E g 2 10" Kwhr {el)
3,6x10° J/XWhr (el)
lflfl$;kgx103 mills/$
Pu cost in 1 Kihr {el) = = & ‘ = 1 mills/
13" KWhr{el}/kg Pu 1 KWnhr (el)

The uranium cost for plutonium synthesis

1 kg U - ~1 kg Pu

If the cost of U production rises from 203% to 1000 $/kg the
contribution in the plutonium price will be approx 10%,
necause:

1Y U price: 20%/kg + 10.000 $/kg Pu

2y U price: 1000 $/kg + 11.000 $/kg Pu

The element of plutonium cost in the electrical energy cost
will change from 1 mills/KWhr to 1.1 mills/EWhr, so that

in the total electrical KWh cost will change from 12 mills
to 12,1 mills that is in the order of 0.84%.
Table 8

"Classical
reactor!

Reprocessing
plant

Nuclear
transformation

District heat

Unterground
building

Total

Capital +
operation

$/KW(e)

500

100

100

100

100

900

hao

21

Amort +
Capital

cOSt

12%/year

60

12

12

12

12

108

48

Preliminary costs of power generating

Milis

KWh (e)

8.5

6.8

Classical
fuel
cycle

out of power
station

waste storage

cooling tower
pollution
landscap
safety tax
32

Remark: because of rather preliminary and rough calcu~
lation of these problems, no references ars

given here expliecitby.