Massive quantities of undeclared uranium are exported from the DRC, study reveals
Researchers said 2,000 to 5,000 metric tons of uranium were exported without reporting, raising proliferation and health concerns.
- Researchers from UW-Madison and Princeton University found that 2,000-5,000 metric tons of uranium were exported from the Democratic Republic between 2000 and 2024 as part of the cobalt supply chain, with findings published in Nature Communications.
- Because uranium naturally co-occurs with cobalt in the Katanga region, it remains in raw material during extraction and processing, hitching a ride on cobalt exports without official separation or declaration.
- According to the study published in Nature Communications, the estimated 2,000-5,000 metric tons of undeclared uranium is sufficient to produce 600-1,500 nuclear warheads or fuel a light water reactor for up to 25 years.
- Much of this uranium was sent to China, which processes about 95 percent of the world's cobalt, meaning the radioactive material escaped The International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring protocols designed to ensure peaceful use.
- Nuclear security expert Sebastian Phillippe of UW-Madison called for an extensive national audit of mining in the Democratic Republic and new rules for separating uranium from the cobalt supply chain to ensure compliance.
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In 4 Years From 2,000 to 5.00 Tons of Uranium Escaped Control of the Air - Research and Institutions
From the cobalt mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo to China (ANSA)
Study claims up to 5,000 metric tons of undeclared uranium unofficially reached China through DR Congo's cobalt exports between 2000 and 2024
Science News: A new study has claimed that between 2,000 and 5,000 metric tons of undeclared uranium may have been extracted and exported from the Democratic Republ.
Officially, the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not produce uranium. However, in twenty years, 2,000 tons of this radioactive ore crucial for the nuclear industry were reportedly exported to China, according to a survey by several journalists and researchers shared with "Le Monde".
Upto 5,000 metric tonnes of uranium unofficially shipped out of Congo
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Princeton in the US have found that between 2000 and 2024, large quantities of uranium were extracted, concentrated and exported from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of the country’s cobalt supply chain. Estimates suggest that 2,000-5,000 metric tons (4.4 – 11 million pounds) of radioactive material were exported, even as the DRC has not reported uranium production in decades.…
One country holds an estimated twenty-four trillion dollars in mineral wealth beneath its soil — cobalt and copper, the very metals that power the phones and electric cars of the modern world — and it remains among the five poorest nations on Earth
The cobalt in a phone bought in Sydney or Seoul almost certainly came out of the ground in the southern Congo. Little of the money it generates stays there. The Democratic Republic of Congo sits on mineral deposits valued at an estimated twenty-four trillion dollars, a figure that turns up in advocacy material, mining-sector research and the United States government’s own commercial guide to the country, which notes that most of those resources …
A study has revealed that thousands of tons of uranium mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past 20 years were exported overseas mixed with cobalt, a key raw material for electric vehicle and smartphone batteries, but most of it was not reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). On the 30th, researchers from the University of Wisconsin and Princeton University published their findings in the international …
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