Chinese researchers have found a way to extract uranium from seawater at several times the target rate set by the US Department of Energy, putting China at the forefront of a global quest to tap into a vast source of nuclear fuel.The team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao did this using a material they developed called PhosCage – a sponge-like molecular structure filled with phosphate groups that act as chemical traps.In a statement, the researchers said they had recovered up to 50.4mg of uranium for every gram of the adsorbent from natural seawater samples – more than eight times the US target of 6mg per gram.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS109
ENT7
FRI · 2026-09-04 · 14:00 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0904-109252
NSR-2026-0904-109252News Report·EN·Technology
Chinese team extracts uranium from seawater at 8 times the US target rate
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao have developed a new method for extracting uranium from seawater. They utilized a material called PhosCage, a molecular structure designed with phosphate groups to capture uranium.
Ling XinSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-09-04 · 14:00 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
109words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
7entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao have developed a new method for extracting uranium from seawater. They utilized a material called PhosCage, a molecular structure designed with phosphate groups to capture uranium. This new technique has achieved recovery rates of up to 50.4mg of uranium per gram of adsorbent from natural seawater samples. This rate is more than eight times the target rate of 6mg per gram previously set by the US Department of Energy. This advancement positions China as a leader in the effort to access uranium from the ocean, a significant potential source of nuclear fuel.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 4Entities 7
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Technology
Economic Impact
Tone
Mixed Tone
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.90 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
4 extracted01
This recovery rate is more than eight times the US Department of Energy's target of 6mg per gram.
statisticChinese Academy of Sciences
Confidence
1.00
02
The Chinese team recovered up to 50.4mg of uranium per gram of adsorbent from natural seawater.
statisticChinese Academy of Sciences
Confidence
1.00
03
PhosCage is a sponge-like molecular structure filled with phosphate groups that act as chemical traps.
factualChinese Academy of Sciences
Confidence
1.00
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Chinese researchers developed a material called PhosCage to extract uranium from seawater.
factualChinese Academy of Sciences
Confidence
1.00
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Full report
1 min read · 109 words§ 05
Entities
7 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
Organizations2
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Keywords & salience
8 termsuranium extraction
1.00
seawater
0.90
phoscage
0.80
nuclear fuel
0.70
chinese academy of sciences
0.60
us department of energy
0.50
adsorbent
0.40
molecular structure
0.40
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