“Chinese researchers have developed an extremely energy efficient and low-cost technology for extracting uranium from seawater…

When tested with small amounts of natural seawater – about 1 litre running through the system at any time – the new method was able to extract 100 per cent of uranium from East China Sea water and 85 per cent from South China Sea water. In the latter case, the researchers also achieved 100 per cent extraction with larger electrodes.

The experiments also showed the energy required was more than 1000-fold less than other electrochemical methods. The whole process cost about $83 per kilogram of extracted uranium. That is twice as cheap as physical adsorption methods, which cost about $205 per kilogram, and four times as cheap as previous electrochemical methods, which cost $360 per kilogram.”

From New Scientist.