Climate change vulnerability assessment for the uranium supply chain in Australia

Abstract

Uranium demand is expected to increase due to the worldwide growth in electricity demand and the shift towards more sustainable and reliable low carbon energy sources. For more than 10 years, the Australian uranium industry production (primarily represented by production from the Ranger and Olympic Dam Mines) has been affected by adverse weather conditions. Since Australia meets 12% of the current world uranium demand, there is a need to study, at depth, any potential threat to this market. This study has included a vulnerability assessment of the impact that climate change currently makes, and potentially might have on the supply chain of the two biggest uranium mines currently operating in Australia. The assessment identified the most vulnerable parts (past and future) of both operational chains, in addition to the chain participants with the greatest and least adaptive capacity.