Wally Versluis, age 15, of Grand Rapids, Mich., for his question which was sent in Braille lettering:

WHAT IS URANIUM?

Uranium is a radioactive, metallic elem.ent used as a nuclear fuel in power reactors. A French chemist named Henri Becquerel discovered in 1896 that an invisible ray, which today we call radioactivity, came from uranium.

Uranium is found chiefly in an ore called pitchblende. It is a rather rare element but it is found in moderate quantities in Colorado and Utah, Canada, in parts of Africa and Czechoslovakia.

Uranium is a silvery metal about as dense as tungsten, slightly softer than steel, and the heaviest element that occurs in any abundance. It goes through radioactive disintegration emitting three different kinds of radiations: alpha, beta and gamma rays.