There's Nuclear Power In Our Ocean; Enough For 6,500 Years.

The recent Fukushima disaster has much of the world turned off to nuclear power. Germany has even gone so far as to completely shut down the government. But the fact remains that the world can't be powered by fossil fuels - an alternative source of energy needs to be powerful enough and sustainable, and this is where nuclear power shines. And now, scientists have shown that we can look in an unlikely place to tap into the uranium needed for nuclear power: the ocean.

That's right, the ocean is full of uranium, but don't worry, you won't grow an extra set of hands or legs just by swimming in it. Only around three parts per billion of uranium exists in the planet's oceans, but if you add it all up, then you get around 4.5 billion tons of uranium - enough for 6,500 years of nuclear power for the whole world.

The problem is that extracting the uranium is expensive and inefficient. This is why researchers from Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new adsorbent that is more viable.

"We have shown that our adsorbents can extract five to seven times more uranium at uptake rates seven times faster than the world's best adsorbents," says Chris Janke from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

"Our HiCap adsorbents are made by subjecting high-surface area polyethylene fibers to ionizing radiation, then reacting these pre-irradiated fibers with chemical compounds that have a high affinity for selected metals," Janke explained.

Mining is still more efficient for extracting uranium, and won't be replaced by HiCap adsorbents anytime soon.

This is a step in the right direction, however, and only opens up more possibilities for scientists to explore as our planet's traditional resources dwindle. Water from the ocean, for instance, contains many different kinds of metals that can be useful to us as humans. Iron from whale feces stimulates the growth of phytoplankton which then absorb a large amount of carbon dioxide that would otherwise have made it into our atmosphere. Extracting minerals and resources from our water may be an alternative, and soon necessary, mode of keeping the human race afloat.