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Chemists have found a new use for the waste product of nuclear power - transforming an unused stockpile into a versatile compound which could be used to create valuable commodity chemicals as well as new energy sources.
Depleted uranium (DU) is a radioactive by-product from the process used to create nuclear energy. Many fear the health risks from DU, as it is either stored in expensive facilities or used to manufacture controversial armour-piercing missiles.
But, in a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Professor Geoff Cloke, Professor Richard Layfield and Dr Nikolaos Tsoureas, all at the University of Sussex, have revealed that DU could, in fact, be more useful than we might think.
By using a catalyst which contains depleted uranium, the researchers have managed to convert ethylene (an alkene used to make plastic) into ethane (an alkane used to produce a number of other compounds including ethanol).
Their work is a breakthrough that could help reduce the heavy burden of large-scale storage of DU, and lead to the transformation of more complicated alkenes.
Prof Layfield said: "The ability to convert alkenes into alkanes is an important chemical reaction that means we may be able to take simple molecules and upgrade them into valuable commodity chemicals, like hydrogenated oils and petrochemicals which can be used as an energy source.
"The fact that we can use depleted uranium to do this provides proof that we don't need to be afraid of it as it might actually be very useful for us."
Journal Reference:
Nikolaos Tsoureas, Laurent Maron, Alexander F. R. Kilpatrick, Richard A. Layfield, F. Geoffrey N. Cloke. Ethene Activation and Catalytic Hydrogenation by a Low-Valent Uranium Pentalene Complex. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2019; 142 (1): 89 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b11929
(Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Monday January 13 2020, @03:06AM (16 children)
We don't ever need to fear DU, plutonium, whatever. If responsibly worked with and stored, it would never be a real problem. Unlike a superbug, or Ice9, these materials on their own are fairly harmless when handled correctly. Chemicals need to be respected, not feared.
What we fear is us. Technology is neutral, and knowledge is not to be feared. Man is to be feared, and the more knowledge he possesses, the more he needs to be feared.
Only crazier thing is, that it is apparently a matter of scale. At the micro scale most people don't need to be feared, at least with intentions.At the macro scale, humanity is psychotic virus unable to establish harmony with itself or the environment.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 5, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 13 2020, @03:36AM (5 children)
Spoken like a man who has never personally investigated the exciting world of fluorine peroxides.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 13 2020, @01:25PM (4 children)
If you respect fluorine peroxides enough, you know enough you that you shouldn't mess with it unless really needed and very carefully ... exactly like you should respect trinitroglycerine
knowledge = respect
knowledge + fear = even higher respect
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 13 2020, @09:12PM (3 children)
Nah, you shouldn't mess with them ever. They make TATP look cute and huggable and it desperately desires to spontaneously explode in quantities over a gram. Well, unless you're just completely fed up with whatever building you plan to fabricate them in and all of your nearby neighbors. I mean, consider dioxygen difluoride (a.k.a. FOOF). You start out by pumping a fluorine/oxygen mixture through a 700C heating element. And it doesn't get any less suicidal going forward.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:08AM (2 children)
Don't you tend to die fast with those if "stuff happens"? I'd rather risk dying in seconds than suffer for weeks or months: https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-dangers-of-dimethylmercury-/3010064.article [chemistryworld.com]
Which would you prefer, a tiny drop of dimethylmercury on your hand or a tiny drop of FOOF on your hand?
I'd take the FOOF.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:43AM (1 child)
Fluorine is also poisonous in addition to being explosive, so six of one, half a dozen of the other.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @11:11AM
Still not as scary. https://ehs.berkeley.edu/lessons-learned/lesson-learned-researcher-smells-toxic-fluorine-gas-when-changing-out-gas-cylinder [berkeley.edu]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday January 13 2020, @05:41AM (3 children)
How far you are willing to go down this track?
E.g. do you also call "wise" the religious fundamentalists and politicians who fear science because is backed by a massive amount (in absolute terms) of scientists?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by pipedwho on Monday January 13 2020, @08:51AM (2 children)
'man' includes all the religious fundamentalists, scientists, mathematicians, politicians, etc.
Irrespective of who is responsible for creating the knowledge, it ends up 'possessed' not only by those that understand the details, but by those thirsting for power.
Herein lies the fear.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday January 13 2020, @09:01AM
If "those thirsting for power" do not motivate enough some "that understand the details" (which may include themselves - mwah-ha-ha), the former have little chance to do evil.
So, ultimately, boils down to "do you fear scientists and/or engineers"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday January 13 2020, @06:51PM
'Man' also includes Immerman, who claimed depleted uranium isn't even radioactive when it DEFINITELY is.
And, 'man' also includes all the people who modded that FALSE claim 'Informative.'
My fear is ignorance, in all it's forms.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 13 2020, @03:49PM
I had to look that up, as I thought that Ice-9 was harmless.
Turns out, I was right, real ice-9 is harmless, didn't know about this fictional stuff. That would be a problem.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday January 13 2020, @04:24PM
>What we fear is us. Technology is neutral, and knowledge is not to be feared. Man is to be feared, and the more knowledge he possesses, the more he needs to be feared.
And with good reason, as a brief skim through history (or modern world affairs) will show.
I don't fear children or matches - but put a box of matches in a room full of children, and I'll get worried fast, and with good reason. Similarly I don't fear knowledge in isolation, but for our purposes all knowledge is knowledge in the hands of humans, and the combination is deserving of fear.
>Only crazier thing is, that it is apparently a matter of scale. e. At the micro scale most people don't need to be feared, at least with intentions...
Knowledge can throw that out the window though. Without knowledge, individuals only need to be feared individually. One man with a club can be dangerous, but the damage he can cause is limited enough that only those within arm's length need to be immediately concerned, and he'll have a hard time hurting a dozen others if they stand together. A man with a flask of poison is considerably more dangerous, as is a man with an automatic rifle. And a single man capable of launching a large scale nuclear strike can endanger all of human civilization on a whim, while a single man working in a bio-weapon facility can endanger the survival of the entire human species through nothing more than carelessness.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday January 13 2020, @06:45PM (2 children)
That's one hell of a big IF!
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday January 13 2020, @10:29PM (1 child)
You make my point all the more :)
What makes it a big IF again? Logistics? Lack of technology? Impossibility? Or just humanity?
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Monday January 13 2020, @10:40PM
Republicans
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:27AM
This seems scary enough to me:
https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-dangers-of-dimethylmercury-/3010064.article [chemistryworld.com]
Not as scary as stuff like weaponized diseases (natural or "modified/custom made") but still scary.