Why is Americum more expensive than Uranium?

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SUMMARY

Americum is significantly more expensive than Uranium, with a pure cost of $1500 per gram compared to Uranium's $51.5 per pound (approximately 11.3 cents per gram). The primary reason for this price disparity is that Americum does not occur naturally and must be extracted from spent nuclear fuel, which yields only about 100 grams of Americum per ton of spent fuel. Additionally, the handling of spent reactor fuel is more complex and costly due to its higher radioactivity compared to Uranium ore.

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CognitiveNet
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The cost of Americum:

Cost, pure: $1500 per g (1,5 million USD per Kg)
Cost, bulk: per 100g

The cost of Uranium:

US $ 51,5/lb (at 25.07.2011) or 11,3 cents per gram (natural uranium in the form of the unrefined oxide U3O8).

Why is Uranium so much cheaper?
 
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If you look for Americium (and not Americum) you may find some information in wikipedia.
In contrast to uranium, Americium does not occur in nature which explains it's high price.
 
You can dig uranium ore out of the ground. You have to extract americium from spent fuel for nuclear reactors. According to the Wikipedia article, one ton of spent fuel yields about 100g of americium. That's a ratio of about 0.0001 or 0.01%. And spent reactor fuel is a lot more radioactive than uranium ore, hence requires more care (and cost!) in handling.
 
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