What is it?
A heavy, faintly radioactive metal whose nucleus can be split, releasing about two million times more energy per kilogram than burning coal.
Why does it matter?
Nuclear power supplies roughly a tenth of the world's electricity and around a quarter of its low-carbon electricity, all from this one element.
Deeper written sections for this material have not been published yet. Everything below is drawn straight from the source datasets and is complete.
Where it comes from in the rock
All ore minerals →These are the minerals that actually carry uranium. A deposit is only an orebody if one of them is concentrated enough to pay for digging it up.
Uraninite (pitchblende)
The main uranium ore. The Athabasca Basin's unconformity deposits reach grades over 15% U — a hundred times typical.
Carnotite
A secondary uranium-vanadium mineral of sandstone deposits; the classic in-situ recovery target.
Price
Uranium, global price
Annual averageUS$ per pound
Basis: IMF global price of uranium — NUEXCO restricted price, U3O8. Annual averages as published in FRED (IMF primary commodity prices) · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
Mines that produce it
All mines →
Olympic Dam
One of the largest single orebodies of any kind, holding copper, uranium, gold and silver together.
Mponeng
The deepest mine on Earth, working below 4 km.
Where it is processed and refined
| Plant | Kind | Stage | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georges Besse II Enrichment Plant | Enrichment plant | Refining | France | Input |
| Port Hope Conversion Facility | Chemical plant | Refining | Canada | Input |
What it is used for
All end markets →| End market | What it does there | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Nuclear Power | The fuel | Defining |
How much of it a technology needs
| Technology | Quantity | Quoted | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressurised Water Reactor Depends on enrichment level and tails assay; the loaded fuel is far less. | 150.0–250.0 t | per GW of capacity | Natural uranium needed per year of operation |
Indicative range compiled from published technology studies and chemistry; verify against a manufacturer specification before use. Run these numbers at any scale in the material calculator →
Export controls
| Country | Control | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Russia | Export ban | Steel waste and scrap, tungsten scrap, and enriched uranium (2022). ↗ |
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, table 4 — controls in effect as of January 2026, excluding controls since lifted.
Follow it across the borders
All journeys →Where a consignment of this material actually goes — every country, every custodian, and what is left behind at each step.
Kazakh uranium to a fuel assembly in a reactor The most tightly watched journey covered here: every kilogram is accounted for, at every border.