Uranium concentration of coals in China

Representative coal uranium concentrations are essential not only to better estimate the environmental and health effects associated with the uranium emissions from coal utilization but also to utilize the potentially valuable uranium in coal combustion byproducts. The average uranium concentrations of coals in China are estimated based on uranium analyses of 1319 coal samples and coal reserves tonnage. The results reveal that the estimated average weighted uranium concentrations of Carboniferous and Early Permian (C-P-1), Late Permian (P-2), Late Triassic (T-3), Early and Middle Jurassic (J(1-2)), Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (J(3)-K-1), and Eogene and Neogene (E-N) coals are 2.892 mu/g, 5.135 mu/g, 3.855 mu/g, 1.202 mu/g, 1.718 mu/g, and 3.923 mu/g, respectively. The overall average weighted uranium concentration of coals in China is 2.28 mu/g.