Uranium recovery from secondary sources: R&D trends

This paper attempts to analyse quantitatively the growth and development of uranium recovery from secondary sources in terms of publication output as reflected in the International Nuclear Information System (INIS) database. During 1972-2011, a total of 4520 papers were published on uranium extraction from various secondary sources: phosphoric acid accounted for 2840 publications (62.83%), sea water 751 publications (16.62%), coal 479 publications (10.6%), monazite 245 publications (5.42%) and granite 205 publications (4.54%). Among the countries contributing to uranium recovery from secondary sources research, India topped the list with 695 publications (15.38%), followed by USA with 548 publications (12.12%), Japan with 457 publications (10.11%), China with 291 publications (6.44%) and Germany with 275 publications (6.08%). The highest number of publications (193) was in 1984. The average number of publications published per year was 113. The journals most preferred by scientists for publication of papers were Radiokhimiya with 118 publications (2.61%), Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry with 82 publications (1.81%) and Radiochimica Acta with 60 publications (1.33%).