Stories: Uranium
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‘A City Lost in the Desert’: A Visit to the Sahara’s Uranium Capital
In May 2013, a car bomb detonated near the Somair uranium mine in Arlit, in northern Niger, killing one person. Moments earlier, in Agadez, some 150 miles south, Al Qaeda-affiliated militants waged an assault on Nigerien army positions that killed over 20 people. That same year, Niger’s two uranium mines produced...
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The Market for the One Energy Source That’s a Menace to Civilization Is Absolutely Mind-Boggling
Uranium isn’t like other commodities for one very simple reason: It’s impossible to vaporize an entire city with a single petroleum- or coal-based weapon that’s smaller than a two-seat car. What makes uranium so promising as a source of energy is also what makes it a potential menace to civilization. The problem,...
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One Uranium Mine in Niger Says a Lot About China’s Huge Nuclear-Power Ambitions
The odds of finding much of anything seem slim in northern Niger’s unnerving expanses of hazy white desert. The land is so vast, so untethered from any obvious landmarks that when straying just a few hundred feet off of the inconsistently paved road between Abalak and Agadez, it’s hard to shake the fear that the driver...
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The Cost of Being the World’s No. 1 Uranium Producer
If you make a toxic mess under one of the most isolated parts of the planet, does it matter if you don't clean it up? Does it make a difference if that mess will be there for thousands of years? Scientists are asking those questions as Kazakhstan has steadily risen to become the world's No. 1 uranium producer, surpassing...