Fuel for the 21st century

摘要

Expansion of the nuclear option is being increasingly regarded in many quarters around the world as fundamental to avoiding the emission of hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon through the middle of this century and beyond. If this turns out to be the case, the demand for uranium in the mid- to long-term could be so large that there will be a need for more efficient uranium use and for advanced fuel cycles. However, even if there is expanded nuclear power growth in the future it will not impact the uranium market until early in the next decade at best. In the meantime, it will be necessary and possible to rely on already-mined uranium inventories and production from existing and new mines. As the substantial inventories decline in this decade, primary production will have to be expanded at existing mines and by constructing new mines. As excess commercial stockpiles are depleted in the second half of this decade, supply of already mined uranium will come primarily from government stockpiles. The most significant components in the government stockpiles are weapons uranium and plutonium, particularly the former. By the middle of the next decade an expanding resource base of new uranium deposits will have to be identified through a resurgence of exploration activities begun in this decade.