Can you obtain uranium

Answer 1

Uranium is a natural chemical element having three natural isotopes (234U, 235U, 238U), not an artifficial element. But uranium has also 23 man made, artifficial isotopes and 3 nuclear isomers.

Answer 2

It is possible to "obtain" uranium, but not wise to do so. Uranium is a heavy metal, and is mildly radioactive. Worst, it is darn toxic as well as quite chemically reactive. Certainly you can't just go to the local hardware store and buy it. A licensed entiy might purchase some of the metal from a licensed supplier, but all that stuff is controlled and tracked by government. Getting a concealed weapons permit would seem simple by comparison.

An individual might go out into the desert, dig up some ore and then refine it, but it would not be wise to do so. Why would you want to? What would you do with a bucket of yellowcake, the partially refined uranium (mostly) in the form of its oxide? That bucket would be the result of digging up many tons of higher quality ore and working with it. Got an endloader, a dump truck, a crusher and grinder? Got the tons of chemicals and the facilities to leach the uranium compounds out of the feedstock of your processing line? Think no one will notice you doing that and alert the constabulary? You'd be doing all this work without a permit, of course. It is highly doubtful that anyone would issue you any permission to go into the uranium mining business. It isn't like panning for gold. There is a lot of uranium around, but it is not found in high concentration anywhere.

There is a long, long road between the rocks baking under the sun and the silvery metal that is then laboriously processed to enrich it for use as a nuclear fuel or the core of a nuclear weapon. And plenty of chances to encounter the chemically (biologically) toxic heavy metal and develop some serious (or fatal) medical conditions for failure to observe all precautions along the way. Having a block of uranium metal would be akin to having a block of metallic sodium or something like that. It would be a curiosity and an invitation to foolishness of the highest order. In the end, you'd have a supply of controlled material that is both radioactive and really toxic. You'd have some 'splainin' to do, and no way to duck the consequences of violating a number of laws regarding hazardous substances.

If you've got it in your head to refine (enrich) the uranium to make something suitable for a weapon, you should know that smarter, better funded and more sincere individuals than you are still trying without success to do that. All you'll do is end up in trouble, and maybe sick, injured or dead (possibly taking another or others with you). But keep investigating and asking questions to discover what science and (in particular) chemistry and physics say about uranium. Perhaps you should also read the fine Wikipedia post on criticality accidents. Those are really "fun" events to miss. Good people (people with a PhD) are given a death sentence in a split second for their carelessness. Please think through anything dealing with hazardous materials. Also a good read is the post on the "radioactive boy scout" by the name of David Hahn. Here's another pretty smart guy (who was an Eagle Scout) with no wisdom. It is likely we'll see his obituary in the next decade. He has repeatedly exposed himself to high levels of radiation.

Curiosity makes good science, says Professor Barnhardt in The Day the Earth Stood Still. (Paraphrased.) But foolishness, ignorance and/or a lack of wisdom precede injury, illness and death from experimental boldness. Be smart about this one. If you want links, you got 'em. Knowledge comes with possibilities, and action based on this brings the burden of consequences. Read and learn, but cultivate wisdom along with an understanding of the natural world. Just because you can do something, you do not necessarily have a license to actually do that thing. History is replete with example upon example of this lesson. Oh, and your links are below.

Answer 3

unitednuclear.com sells uranium ore(low radioactivity) but they are out of stock.

Answer 4

yes, in case of nuclear reactor melt down fuel will be burned and may cause nuclear explosion.

Answer 5

Of course (for nonirradiated uranium), but it is recommended to use plastic gloves (uranium is still highly toxic on its own merit as a heavy metal without being radioactive).

Answer 6

We can obtain uranium from minerals; isotopes of uranium can be prepared as a result of nuclear reactions (the most important example is the isotope uranium-233).

Answer 7

Uranium is a product of mines.