Uranyl sulfate
Uranyl sulfate, a sulfate of uranium, is an odorless lemon-yellow sand-like solid in its pure crystalline form. It is prepared by dissolving UO3 in H2SO4.
It has found use as a negative stain in microscopy and tracer in biology. The Aqueous Homogeneous Reactor experiment, constructed in 1951, circulated a fuel composed of 565 grams of U-235 enriched to 14.7% in the form of uranyl sulfate.
The acid process of milling uranium ores involves precipitating uranyl sulfate from the pregnant leaching solution to produce the semi-refined product referred to as yellowcake.
Radioactivity was discovered by Henri Becquerel using potassium uranyl sulfate, K2UO22.
