Despite the low concentration of uranium in seawater (3.3 ppb), a spec
ial emphasis has been placed on its recovery. Although the concentrati
on is low, it has been estimated that the world's oceans contain about
4 x 10(9) tons of uranium-theoretically an unlimited supply of nuclea
r fuel. Adsorption has been considered to be a technically feasible pr
ocedure for a uranium recovery process with regard to economic and env
ironmental impacts. The present paper restricts its coverage to those
applications using chelating polymeric resins containing amidoxime gro
ups as the most promising adsorbent.