An Economic Model of the U. S. Uranium Mining Industry

Abstract

The rapid increases in uranium prices in recent years have raised questions in the minds of the public and the utility industry concerning the expected cost of nuclear fuel for the reactors which are planned for commercial operation in the early 1980's. The economic advantage of nuclear plants has been primarily in the area of the fuel cost component of the electric power generation costs. The future trends in the nuclear fuel cycle costs are sensitive to the changes in uranium prices and enrichment costs. The purpose of this paper is to develop an economic model for the U.S. uranium mining industry for economic forecasts of uranium prices for the period 1975-2000. The model is designed to calculate the sensitivity of uranium prices with respect to the factors affecting uranium supply, demand, and prices of alternate fuels.