Oppenheimerite is a very rare uranium mineral with the formula Na<sub>2</sub>(UO<sub>2</sub>)(SO<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>â¢3H<sub>2</sub>O. Chemically related minerals include fermiite, natrozippeite, plÃ¡à ¡ilite, belakovskiite and meisserite. Most of these uranyl sulfate minerals were originally found in the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, US. The mineral is named after American Theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimerite is associated with other sulfate minerals: fermiite, bluelizardite, wetherillite, blödite, chalcanthite, epsomite, gypsum, hexahydrite, kröhnkite, manganoblödite, sideronatrite, and tamarugite.
The crystal structure of oppenheimerite is of a new type. It contains chains of the (UO<sub>2</sub>)(SO<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>(H<sub>2</sub>O) composition, connected with two types of sodium polyhedra.