On 10/02/2011 23:21, HappyHunter wrote:
having read the Peak Oil thread, and the various responses saying we
should build nuclear power stations, it reminded me of an article I read
a while ago about Peak Uranium. Have we maybe missed that boat already ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_uranium

I found this bit interesting ...

"According to the OECD redbook, the world consumed 67 kilotonnes
(150×106 lb) of uranium in 2002. Of that 36 kilotonnes (79×106 lb) of
was produced from primary sources, with the balance coming from
secondary sources, in particular stockpiles of natural and enriched
uranium, decommissioned nuclear weapons, the reprocessing of natural and
enriched uranium and the re-enrichment of depleted uranium tails."

In the above article, it says France ran out of uranium in 2002.

I'm sure I read or heard somewhere, that China are planning to build 80
nuclear power stations. Have just found another reference, they
currently have 13, have 27 under construction, 50 planned, and 110
proposed (whatever that all means).

So I guess china will be mopping up a lot of Uranium demand. You can bet
that China are "securing" their supply chain to ensure they get a source
of uranium.

So anyway, have we already missed the boat in the UK ?

Will we be building nuclear power stations as the Uranium runs out ?

Thoughts ?


Proven reserves are 4 million tons.

Estimated reserves are 16 million tons.

Uranium in phosphates, extractable at significantly higher cost (the
uranium equivalent of oil shale) 22 million tons.

In about half a millenium we will have to start looking at the 4 billion
tons in the oceans.

Colin Bignell