Uranium is an element that is naturally occuring on the Earth. Although it is radioactive, it is not very rare and is more abundant than tin. It is also 10 times more abundant that mercury and silver together. It is widly spread throughout the environment, so it is impossible to avoid uranium. Uranium by itself (in natural states) is not particularly dangerous.

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However, the decay products of uranium can be particularly hazerdous, especially radon, which can build up in confined spaces such as basements; and the building material gypsum, if it was made from the waste products of phosphate mining. When a uranium atom splits in two, it can produce all kinds of different elements. Most are in the weight range of 90-105 (krypton to ruthenium) and 130-145 (technetium to europium). Some of these are particularly hazerdous. Such as strontium-90, which was used in ground nuclear weapons training in 1950's- 1960's, because it was easily absorbed by humans and is radioactive. Another radioactive element it iodine-131, it was widely scattered in an accident in England at Windscale/Sellaffield Nuclear Power Plant and at Chernobyl in 1986. Because iodine is essential for good health, this radioactive isotope could easily be absorbed by humans.

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The main uranium ore deposits are located in Australia, USA, Canada, Gabon, Congo, South Africa, Russia and China. It is extracted either by open pit mining, underground mining, leaching, or as a by-product of processing other ores.

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