How much uranium ore is there and where is it?

[Plekhanov]

One of the arguments put forward by advocates of nuclear power is that much of the west’s oil and gas supply comes from unstable, unpleasant and unreliable countries, which is unfortunately true. How much better is the uranium ore situation?

Also if there was a major switch across to nuclear power how long would the known reserves or uranium ore last?

[Hawkwings]

http://www.wise-uranium.org/umaps.html

Canada and Australia mine a lot of uranium, apparently. I also seem to recall that Sweden has sizable uranium ore that isn't mined.

[Spin Echo]

One of the arguments put forward by advocates of nuclear power is that much of the west’s oil and gas supply comes from unstable, unpleasant and unreliable countries, which is unfortunately true. How much better is the uranium ore situation?

Also if there was a major switch across to nuclear power how long would the known reserves or uranium ore last?

Australia has about 40% of the worlds uranium reserves, though Canada is currently the worlds largest exporter of uranium. There are also deposits in Nambia, Kazakhstan, Niger, and South Africa. All in all, you have the option to work with much friendlier countries to work with.

As for how long it would last, there are estimated to be about 15 million tons of conventional uranium ore. In the 60 odd years we've had nuclear power, we've gone through about 2 million tons. If the current rate keeps up that's another 400-500 years. If we include unconvential uranium sources (where uranium is a by-product of extracting other minerals) there's about another 20 million tons, so another 600 years there.

So, we have an estimated millenium of uranium fuel, ignoring use of breeder reactors.

[Plekhanov]

Australia has about 40% of the worlds uranium reserves, though Canada is currently the worlds largest exporter of uranium. There are also deposits in Nambia, Kazakhstan, Niger, and South Africa. All in all, you have the option to work with much friendlier countries to work with.

As for how long it would last, there are estimated to be about 15 million tons of conventional uranium ore. In the 60 odd years we've had nuclear power, we've gone through about 2 million tons. If the current rate keeps up that's another 400-500 years. If we include unconvential uranium sources (where uranium is a by-product of extracting other minerals) there's about another 20 million tons, so another 600 years there.

So, we have an estimated millenium of uranium fuel, ignoring use of breeder reactors.

I think your figures may be a little optimistic there as we’ve obviously not been using uranium at the current rate for a full 60 years.

Also obviously if there was a major shift to nuclear we’d get through it much quicker, iirc something like 15% of electricity is currently from nuclear so there’s lots of room for consumption to go up.

Still the figures look rather better than for fossil fuels.

[Surlethe]

Also obviously if there was a major shift to nuclear we’d get through it much quicker, iirc something like 15% of electricity is currently from nuclear so there’s lots of room for consumption to go up.

A bit of back-of-the-envelope number crunching shows that if we went to 100% electricity from nuclear fission, which increases uranium consumption by a factor of 20/3, then we'll go through the 15 million tons of established uranium reserves in about three quarters of a century, and a century and a half by including unconventional uranium sources. This still ignores breeder uranium, as well as the definite increase in electrical consumption as Africa, India, and China ramp up electrical demand.

[Plekhanov]

One more question how easy to get at is much of the Ore and how much energy is generally used to get at and process it into a usable form? What kind of proportion of the usable energy from uranium does actually producing usable uranium take?

[Spin Echo]

I think your figures may be a little optimistic there as we’ve obviously not been using uranium at the current rate for a full 60 years.

True. It was more of a back of the envelope calculation. The predicted tonnages available may have been adjusted since the last time I was involved with nuclear power as well.

Also obviously if there was a major shift to nuclear we’d get through it much quicker, iirc something like 15% of electricity is currently from nuclear so there’s lots of room for consumption to go up.

Still the figures look rather better than for fossil fuels.

Yes, and the fact you can use breeder reactors to create new fuel (proliferation concerns aside). That would extend the lifetime of nuclear energy about fifty fold.

[Surlethe]

Yes, and the fact you can use breeder reactors to create new fuel (proliferation concerns aside). That would extend the lifetime of nuclear energy about fifty fold.

Do you have a source for this? I don't distrust you; I'd like to look further into the issue.

[Spin Echo]

Yes, and the fact you can use breeder reactors to create new fuel (proliferation concerns aside). That would extend the lifetime of nuclear energy about fifty fold.

Do you have a source for this? I don't distrust you; I'd like to look further into the issue.

My nuclear power notes are unfortunately far, far away. Fortunately, by poking at the International Atomic Energy Agency website I managed to find this:

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/PressRel ... 00405.html

Go to the section at the end labeled Uranium Resources Abundant. Good to know I wasn't misremembering something, and it really was only a factor of 5.

[Mr Flibble]

One of the arguments put forward by advocates of nuclear power is that much of the west’s oil and gas supply comes from unstable, unpleasant and unreliable countries, which is unfortunately true. How much better is the uranium ore situation?

Also if there was a major switch across to nuclear power how long would the known reserves or uranium ore last?

Australia has about 40% of the worlds uranium reserves, though Canada is currently the worlds largest exporter of uranium. There are also deposits in Nambia, Kazakhstan, Niger, and South Africa. All in all, you have the option to work with much friendlier countries to work with.

As for how long it would last, there are estimated to be about 15 million tons of conventional uranium ore. In the 60 odd years we've had nuclear power, we've gone through about 2 million tons. If the current rate keeps up that's another 400-500 years. If we include unconvential uranium sources (where uranium is a by-product of extracting other minerals) there's about another 20 million tons, so another 600 years there.

So, we have an estimated millenium of uranium fuel, ignoring use of breeder reactors.

I think it should be pointed out that one mine in Australia has about 30% of the worl'd uranium ore reserve (Olympic Dam) so it seems likely that there could be significantly more uranium that is currently undiscovered.

-Mr Flibble

[Spin Echo]

Go to the section at the end labeled Uranium Resources Abundant. Good to know I wasn't misremembering something, and it really was only a factor of 5.

Err.. That last sentence is a bit unclear. To clarify: the IAEA estimates that breeder reactors would extend the lifetime of usable uranium resources by 60. I'm glad my memory of that estimate was correct.

[Stofsk]

Australia has about 40% of the worlds uranium reserves, though Canada is currently the worlds largest exporter of uranium.

You can thank the ALP for that. Them and their Three Mines Policy... sheer idiocy.

[Spin Echo]

One more question how easy to get at is much of the Ore and how much energy is generally used to get at and process it into a usable form? What kind of proportion of the usable energy from uranium does actually producing usable uranium take?

That I don't know, though I suspect if you poked more at the IAEA website, you may find your answer.

[Ender]

Also obviously if there was a major shift to nuclear we’d get through it much quicker, iirc something like 15% of electricity is currently from nuclear so there’s lots of room for consumption to go up.

A bit of back-of-the-envelope number crunching shows that if we went to 100% electricity from nuclear fission, which increases uranium consumption by a factor of 20/3, then we'll go through the 15 million tons of established uranium reserves in about three quarters of a century, and a century and a half by including unconventional uranium sources. This still ignores breeder uranium, as well as the definite increase in electrical consumption as Africa, India, and China ramp up electrical demand.

You forget that electrical demand has increased 1.4% annually since the 80s.

[Surlethe]

You forget that electrical demand has increased 1.4% annually since the 80s.

Yes. I should have explicitly said that I wasn't accounting for any increases in demand, instead of erroneously attributing such increases to Africa, India, and China.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Australia has about 40% of the worlds uranium reserves, though Canada is currently the worlds largest exporter of uranium. There are also deposits in Nambia, Kazakhstan, Niger, and South Africa. All in all, you have the option to work with much friendlier countries to work with.

As for how long it would last, there are estimated to be about 15 million tons of conventional uranium ore. In the 60 odd years we've had nuclear power, we've gone through about 2 million tons. If the current rate keeps up that's another 400-500 years. If we include unconvential uranium sources (where uranium is a by-product of extracting other minerals) there's about another 20 million tons, so another 600 years there.

So, we have an estimated millenium of uranium fuel, ignoring use of breeder reactors.

I think your figures may be a little optimistic there as we’ve obviously not been using uranium at the current rate for a full 60 years.

Also obviously if there was a major shift to nuclear we’d get through it much quicker, iirc something like 15% of electricity is currently from nuclear so there’s lots of room for consumption to go up.

Still the figures look rather better than for fossil fuels.

You can also make nuclear fuel from thorium which is a much more plentiful resource.