It produces similar environmental impacts, with the added hazard that uranium mine tailings are radioactive. Groundwater can be polluted not only from the heavy metals present in mine waste, but also from the traces of radioactive uranium still left in the waste. Half of the people employed by the uranium mining industry work on cleaning up the mines after use. The Department of Energy estimates that the U.S. has proven uranium reserves of at least 300 million pounds, primarily in New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming. American power plants are using over 40 million pounds of uranium fuel each year.
Much more uranium is likely to be available beyond our proven reserves.
U-238 can also be processed into plutonium, which is also fissionable. Once mined, the uranium ore is sent to a processing plant to be concentrated into a useful fuel. There are 16 processing plants in the US, although eight are inactive. Most uranium concentrate is made by leaching the uranium from the ore with acids. When finished, the uranium ore is turned into U3O8, the fuel form of uranium, and formed into small pellets.