Uranium reserves

The United States Department of Energy purchases uranium in the form of acceptable U3O8 concentrates. This incentive program has greatly increased the known uranium reserves. 

This reaction offers the advantage of a superior neutron yield of in a thermal reactor system. The abiHty to breed fissile from naturally occurring Th allows the world s thorium reserves to be added to its uranium reserves as a potential source of fission power. However, the Th/ U cycle is unlikely to be developed in the 1990s owing both to the more advanced state of the / Pu cycle and to the avadabiHty of uranium. Thorium is also used in the production of the cx-emitting radiotherapeutic agent, Bi, via the production of Th and subsequent decay through Ac (20). 

Uranium refining, 25 404—405 Uranium reserves, 17 521-522 Uranium resources, 17 522-525,... 

The uranium reserves are estimated as a function of the market value. This 5 million ton figure is based on a market value of 130/pound. If the market value is 60/pound, the profitably recoverable reserve is only 2 million tons. The absolute total uranium reserves are about 15 million tons. 

The oil lobby wants the government to continue providing oil- and gasdrilling tax incentives and subsidizing domestic exploration, and wants to drill in federal waters without paying royalties. The opponents of the oil lobby would prefer to transfer government support and tax breaks from the oil industry to the renewable energy industries. Similar to oil, the coal, natural gas, and the uranium reserves are also limited (Table 1.7). 

The size of the exploitable proven uranium reserves is a function of the market value of uranium (because as it rises the mining of lower concentration ores became profitable). At 125/kg it is estimated between 4 and 5 million tons. As the present yearly demand for uranium is about 77,000 tons, this reserve is sufficient for about 65 years (R/P ratio = 65). Other estimates suggest that the known reserves will last about 80 to 100 years. On the other hand, if more nuclear power plants are built, the consumption will also rise and therefore the P/R ratio could drop. 

Nuclear power, which now accounts for about 3 percent of our total energy consumption, (about 12% of the total electric generation) has to be allowed to grow rapidly in order for it to provide its share of energy which will of course be based on domestic uranium reserves. If uranium power is to account for nearly 30 percent of our total energy consumption by the year 2000 (compared with 3 percent now), the shackles and obstacles must be removed as rapidly as possible. 

White, L. In-situ leaching opens new uranium reserves in Texas. Eng. Mining J. July, 1975, 73-81 (1975). 

Figure 5.44. Proven uranium reserves given as kg of uranium oxide per m, averaged over each country (source OECD and IAEA, 1993 GIS layout Sorensen, 1999).

Should the probable reserves not be confirmed or be unusable for other reasons, a technology is available which solves the resource problem anyway, the fast breeder reactor. In fast breeder reactors the known uranium reserves would last for many hundreds of years, even in the event of a vast expansion in nuclear energy provision. 

With fast breeder reactors the known uranium reserves would last for many hundreds of years... 

As is true for all mineral exploration, a knowledge of the geology is a prerequisite. This is emphasized by Bowie (1972) who points out that more than 90% of uranium reserves occur in Precambrian rocks or in Phcinerozoic rocks closely underlain by Precambrian rocks. The mineral and element associations of known uranium mineralization and the environment of deposition of known ore bodies provide excellent guides in the search for further... 

In view of the anticipated exhaustion of terrestrial uranium reserves in the western world at the beginning of the next century 101), the recovery of uranium from sea water has received much attention over the past three decades 102 U9). First studies on uranium extraction from sea water were carried out as early as 1953 by the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell (AERE), United Kingdom. Extensive efforts have been made in Japan since the early 1960s from the People s Republic of China activities in this direction have been known since 1970. In the Federal Republic of Germany continuous research on the recovery of uranium from sea water has been in progress since about 1973. Investigations have also been carried out in France, Italy, Soviet Union, Finland, India, and more recently also in the United States and Sweden. 

Besides being proliferation resistant, the other advantages of fuel cycles using AIR0X reprocessing are (1) extension of uranium reserve by recycling the fissile material in spent fuel,... 

Fuel cycles utilizing this method of reprocessing will extend our uranium reserves, decrease the spent fuel storage requirements and decrease the amount of waste requiring storage in a Federal Repository for environmental isolation. AIROX reprocessing is applicable to both light-water reactor fuel cycles as well as fast breeder fuel cycles. 

Nuclear power plants, mostly of the pressurized heavy water(PHWR) type, are being built in the country to meet the increasing demand for energy. The PHWRs also form the first stage of nuclear power plant types to utilise the existing uranium reserves in such a manner as to lead to the full exploitation of the vast thorium resources available in the country. 

So with >384 GW in operation today (predominantly supplied from conventional uranium mines) present world demand is -70,000 t/a. We can provide an upper bound estimate of demand for 5000 GW of new reactors needing -one million t/a by 2050. Today s estimates of proven uranium reserves af a cosf of < 130/kg is about six million tons (IAEA and OECD-NEA 2005). Even allowing that exploration will likely lead to a doubling or tripling of the resource estimate to, say, 20 MtU, just 2000 reactors operating for 60 years would use all the world s cheapest uranium with present fuel cycles technology. 

Just the present and planned 650 reactors could be kept going for another 150 years, but that falls far short of the scope for reactor deployment. This is not a cause for alarm, there is plenty of uranium, and more uranium reserves will be found but at higher prices. Moreover, aggressively adopting recycling and increased fuel utilization with existing reactor types might allow up to 1500 reactors. 

Mr. Pahissa-Campa observed that uranium resources are not as great as originally estimated. He emphasized the nuclear energy being essential for at least the coming 50 years and that one must not squander uranium reserves as it was done with petroleum. This means that the spent fuel should be considered not as a common waste but as potentially reusable material. Safe, reliable and retrievable storage should be the approach until a definitive decision is taken. 

In the 1980s, when growth rates of nuclear deployment declined and new uranium reserves had been found, another strategy was suggested ... 

Sweden has considerable uranium reserves, with low metal content, in the Cambrian schists in the middle part of the country. Canada stands out as the most important uranium country of the world. One of the richest uranium deposits known is situated at Cigar Lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. High-grade uranium ores are mined there in underground work, using water jets to cut the rock. The annual production is more than 8000 tonnes of UjOg from the rich eastern part of the ore body. 

Fig. 1 Approximate global uranium reserves in major deposit types compared with age in formation (data from various sources various minor deposits excluded)...

Fig. 2 Distribution of Western world uranium reserves ( 30/lb) by host...

Western world s reasonably assured uranium reserves are found in volcanic rocks. 

More than 400 nuclear power stations are in operation worldwide. Based on the current rate of use, the known low-cost uranium reserves will last for 50 year, but lower-grade sources could be used in future. An alternative could be thorium, which is three times more abundant than uranium. For example, India, which has large thorium reserves, may develop this technology. 

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