Where does the small amount of technetium present in the natural environment all around the earth come from?
– And finally, technetium is naturally present in our environment, but only in really tiny quantities in uranium ore. One tonne of a high grade uranium ore might typically contain 0.1 to 0.2 micrograms of technetium, which can be detected by its radiation signal. A very small proportion of natural uranium atoms undergo spontaneous fission (break in half) in the natural environment, and technetium is a likely product.
