It turns out the ocean has the potential to power the planet for 10,000 years. It’s the amount of uranium in the ocean that could provide power if we’re being specific.
It turns out that there is roughly 3 parts of uranium per billion of ocean water. That may not sound like a lot, but considering the ocean holds about 1.3 sextillion liters of water (that’s 13 with three zeroes) that’s a whole lot of nuclear material.
Japan has actually been looking for a way to pull the uranium from the seawater, and the U.S. and China are looking at doing the same. In the meantime, you’re technically swimming in nuclear water, but it’s not potent enough to affect you.
“To capture the uranyl, long strands of plastic coated in a chemical with a negative charge called amidoxime were left underwater for a month, where they would passively soak up that uranium goodness,” according to seeker.com. Then the strands would be brought to the surface, where an acid bath would free the uranyl and regenerate the fibers so they could be put back in the ocean and used again. It’s literally rinse and repeat.”
