All of the earth’s natural resources are limited, but Uranium is not limited to a significant extent. There is plenty of fuel to supply for life any nuclear plants built in the next decades.
The amount of economically recoverable reserves has increased 50% recently to 85 years. There has been no prospecting for uranium since the seventies because known quantities were more than adequate to meet demand. The available energy can be increased 60 fold to 5000 years if we adopt breeder reactors. When Uranium runs out we can turn to Thorium to provide our energy needs. In about 200,000 years we may need to begin to worry.
The Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published (June 2006) the latest edition of its "Red Book", a regular publication which has reported on Uranium Resources, Production and Demand over the past decades.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations also participates in the gathering of the data contained. The document states that the amount of uranium available today is 4.7 million tonnes, which is enough to fuel the present fleet of reactors for 85 years. However, it goes on to state that, based on geological evidence, some 35 million tonnes are available for exploitation.
By 2025 the world nuclear energy capacity is expected to grow between 22% and 44% and the OECD believes the currently identified resources are adequate to meet this expansion.
In the longer term, continuing advances in nuclear technology will allow substantially better utilisation of these resources: reactors will be capable of extracting some 50 to 60 times as much energy from the uranium as present day reactors. Thus, there is sufficient uranium available to power nuclear reactors for the foreseeable future.
The following graph shows how there is ample Uranium for the world’s reactors and that the amount available will increase as the price of Uranium increases. This is normal for commodities, as is explained in the full report from the World Nuclear Association.
Uranium is a finite resource so there is no point in going nuclear - myth!
Quick references
Advantages of nuclear
Find out more about the advantages of nuclear power in Ireland:
Nuclear power is the safest electricity
New nuclear power is ideal for Ireland
Supporters of nuclear in Ireland
Many Irish organisations have called for nuclear power to be considered here. (These links to external sites open in a new window).
Political supporters of a debate
Calls for a national nuclear debate have come from (external sites open in a new window):
Minister for Energy, Eamon Ryan
Dáil Joint C’tee on Climate Change
Exploded myths about nuclear
These facts may surprise you:
Reactors would fit the Irish grid
There is a solution for nuclear waste
Other information
General items of interest about nuclear:
IRIS - a suitable reactor for Ireland
Nuclear power is illegal in Ireland
Can we not just use Renewables?
BENE
Better Environment with Nuclear Energy
See also this excellent article from Dr. Tom O’Flaherty on the topic. In an article published in the Engineers Ireland Journal in June 2011, Tom argues that there is more than enough nuclear fuel to support all planned and current nuclear fission reactors for many decades to come.