Uranium Reserves Research Articles

Uranium reserves

Uranium reserves

Australia, uranium and nuclear power

The nuclear debate in Australia is shaped by the nation's substantial base of energy resources, including its large reserves of uranium and recent rises in the market price of uranium. But the debate also echoes Australia's past in the development of programs for nuclear weapons. The proposals include uranium enrichment, the storage of nuclear waste in Australia, and the introduction of nuclear reactors. A national inquiry has been instituted by the government. These developments, stemming from a range of factors, have revived the opposition to uranium mining and nuclear power which has for two decades held a dominant role in Australian politics. The issue of what should be Australia's energy path in a time of climate change is beginning to be examined. The importance of the decisions, whether to be a player in the nuclear club with its attendant multiple hazards, or to play a quite different leadership role in the development and adoption of sustainable energy strategies and technologies, cannot be exaggerated.

A Basin System and Fluid-Flow Analysis of the Zn-Pb-Ag Mount Isa-Type Deposits of Northern Australia: Identifying Metal Source, Basinal Brine Reservoirs, Times of Fluid Expulsion, and Organic Matter Reactions

Paleoproterozoic rocks of northern Australia host one of the world’s largest base metal repositories and are the world’s most important zinc repository. The McArthur-Mount Isa-Cloncurry mineral belt contains several world-class Zn-Pb-Ag, U, Cu, and Cu-Au deposits (Ewers and Fergusson, 1980; Williams, 1998; Betts et al., 2003; Large et al., 2005; Fig. 1⇓). The province has the potential to host additional base metal and uranium reserves. Advances in exploration techniques in the 1980s led to the discovery of several major new Zn and Cu-Au deposits, including Cannington, Century, Ernest Henry, and Osborne. However, recent exploration results have been disappointing and new exploration strategies are required if the region is to further its growth potential and if new resources are to be realized beneath shallow cover. Fig. 1. Map of northeastern Australia, showing the principal tectonostratigraphic subdivisions for the region. The map highlights the areas of study covered by the thematic papers in this volume and the location of the principal Zn-Pb-Ag, Cu, and Cu-Au deposits. The locations of profiles P1 and P2, the Comalco seismic grid, and deep boreholes including Desert Creek 1 are shown in the inset map (bottom left). Between 1975 to 1995 geoscientists from Geoscience Australia, the Geological Survey of Queensland, and the Northern Territory Geological Survey mapped the Paleoproterozoic outcrop belt of northern Australia at a scale of 1:100,000. Subsequently, researchers at Monash University undertook detailed studies of the deformation history of the Mount Isa block, placing the ore deposits within a tectonic context (e.g., O’Dea et al., 1997; Betts et al., 1998, 2003; Betts and Lister, 2002). Researchers at James Cook University carried out structural, metamorphic and mineralization studies across the Mount Isa block, with their principal focus concentrating on the deposits and their immediate environs (Bell et al., 1988 …

Towards an intrinsically safe and economic thorium breeder reactor

Abstract Thorium does not have intrinsic fissile content unlike uranium. 232Th has nearly three times thermal absorption cross section compared to 238U and hence requires much larger externally fed fissile content compared to uranium based fuel. These factors give a permanent economic competitive edge to uranium. Thus thorium is not inducted in any significant measure in present day power reactors, despite the fact that thorium is three times more abundant in the earth’s crust than uranium. Uranium reserves vary from country to country and there is also difficulty in having equitable distribution of uranium. Thus when 235U would get exhausted, perhaps much sooner in countries having limited uranium reserve, there will be a need to switch over from the today’s open fuel cycle programme based on 235U feed to closed fuel cycle based on Pu feed. At that stage thorium and (depleted) uranium would become equal candidates to form the fertile base. All economic considerations would have to be readdressed. The size and growth of the nuclear power programme based on closed fuel cycle would be dependent on maximizing the fissile conversion rate in those reactors. In this paper we reemphasize the principles and the details of the thermal reactor concept ‘A Thorium Breeder Reactor’ (ATBR), in which the use of PuO2 seeded thoria fuel is found to give excellent core characteristics like two years cycle length with nearly zero control maneuvers, fairly high seed output to input ratio and intrinsically safe reactivity coefficients [Jagannathan V, Ganesan S, Karthikeyan R. Sensitivity studies for a thorium breeder reactor design with the nuclear data libraries of WIMS library update project. In: Proceedings of the international conference on emerging nuclear energy systems ICENES-2000, September 25–28, 2000, Petten, The Netherlands].

The design of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor

India has a moderate uranium reserve and a large thorium reserve. The primary energy resource for electricity generation in the country is coal. The potential of other resources like gas, oil, wind, solar and biomass is very limited. The only viable and sustainable resource is the nuclear energy. Presently, Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors utilizing natural uranium are in operation/under construction and the plutonium generated from these reactors will be multiplied through breeding in fast breeder reactors. The successful construction, commissioning and operation of Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam has given confidence to embark on the construction of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). This paper describes the salient design features of PFBR including the design of the reactor core, reactor assembly, main heat transport systems, component handling, steam water system, electrical power systems, instrumentation and control, plant layout, safety and research and development.

How Brazil spun the atom [nuclear power reactors

This paper describes the Resende nuclear complex in Brazil which will house hundreds of uranium centrifuges to produce enriched uranium that will fuel its nuclear power reactors. By consistently fulfilling its obligations as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Brazil will become one of a few nations that operate commercial-scale centrifuge facilities. Brazilian officials say that this move makes sense as the country has the world's eight largest uranium reserves and that about 90% of the world's nuclear power plants depend on enrichment services to get their fuel. As the government expects to have a total of four nuclear power reactors in the very near future, it is good strategy for Brazil to make its own fuel. A novel feature of the Brazilian centrifuges is their rotors which, unlike other rotors, levitate and spin frictionlessly via actively controlled electromagnetic bearings, making them more efficient and durable.

Future Scenarios for Fission Based Reactors

The coming century will see the exhaustion of standard fossil fuels, coal, gas and oil, which today represent 75% of the world energy production. Moreover, their use will have caused large-scale emission of greenhouse gases (GEG), and induced global climate change. This problem is exacerbated by a growing world energy demand. In this context, nuclear power is the only GEG-free energy source available today capable of responding significantly to this demand. Some scenarios consider a nuclear energy production of around 5 Gtoe in 2050, wich would represent a 20% share of the world energy supply. Present reactors generate energy from the fission of U-235 and require around 200 tons of natural Uranium to produce 1GWe.y of energy, equivalent to the fission of one ton of fissile material. In a scenario of a significant increase in nuclear energy generation, these standard reactors will consume the whole of the world's estimated Uranium reserves in a few decades. However, natural Uranium or Thorium ore, wich are not themselves fissile, can produce a fissile material after a neutron capture ( 239 Pu and 233 U respectively). In a breeder reactor, the mass of fissile material remains constant, and the fertile ore is the only material to be consumed. In this case, only 1 ton of natural ore is needed to produce 1GWe.y. Thus, the breeding concept allows optimal use of fertile ore and development of sustainable nuclear energy production for several thousand years into the future. Different sustainable nuclear reactor concepts are studied in the international forum generation IV. Different types of coolant (Na, Pb and He) are studied for fast breeder reactors based on the Uranium cycle. The thermal Thorium cycle requires the use of a liquid fuel, which can be reprocessed online in order to extract the neutron poisons. This paper presents these different sustainable reactors, based on the Uranium or Thorium fuel cycles and will compare the different options in term of fissile inventory, capacity to be deployed, induced radiotoxicities, and R&D efforts.

The Solar Economy: Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Global Future

Review: The Solar Economy: Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Global Future By Hermann Scheer Reviewed by Umar Karim Mirza Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Pakistan Hermann Scheer. The Solar Economy: Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Global Future. London: Earthscan Publications, 2002. 347 pp. ISBN 1- 85383-835-7 (hardback). US$29.95 This book was originally published in German in 1999 under the title Solare Weltwirtschaft. Andrew Ketley has translated it into English. The author, Dr. Hermann Scheer, is a member of the German parliament. In addition, he is president of EUROSOLAR-the European Association for Renewable Energies-and general chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy. He has been awarded several prizes in recognition of his work and achievements, receiving the Alternative Nobel Prize in 1999, the World Solar Prize in 1998, and the World Prize for BioEnergy in 2000. In this book, Dr. Scheer begins by describing a scenario of transforming the global economy by changing from fossil fuels to solar power. 11 chapters divided into four parts, each encompassing a different topic, follow this. Part one compares the supply chains for different fuels and energy resources. The supply chains for renewable resources have been found to be much shorter than those of fossil or nuclear energy. Scheer points to an interesting fact that, every year, the sun delivers 15,000 times more energy than is consumed by the entire human population. Part two discusses the politics of fossil fuel resources. These resources are being consumed at an alarmingly high rate. It is claimed that we might run out of oil by 2035, natural gas by 2040, and coal before the end of 21st century. Uranium reserves are also expected to last just about as long as oil. This would lead to resource wars. The distorting effects of fossil supply chains on our society and economy are discussed next, followed by the mythology of fossil energy. Part three begins by examining the options for off-grid energy and discusses technologies for autonomous power generation. Storage technologies for renewable energies, both pre- and post-conversion, are elaborated on very well. Scheer gives an account of the untapped wealth of solar resources and suggests replacing fossil fuels with these environment-friendly resources. He tackles the objections raised about the economic viability of renewable

La filière thorium, une option intéressante pour le nucléaire du futur

To satisfy a significant part of the primary energy demand at the world level by 2050, fission nuclear energy production has to grow by a large factor (more than 10). Due to the natural limitations of Uranium reserves (at a reasonable price) such a development makes necessary the use of breeder reactors. A comparative study of such breeder reactors using Uranium or Thorium based fuels shows that the use of Thorium based fuel has clear advantages in terms of flexibility, of minor actinides contents in the fuel cycle as well as for the inventory and disposal radiotoxicities. To cite this article: J.-M. Loiseaux et al., C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 1023–1034.

Nuclear fuel considerations for the 21 st century

There are many external influences that may control the path that nuclear power deployment follows. In the next 50 years several events may unfold. Fear of the consequences of the greenhouse effect may produce a carbon tax that would make nuclear power economically superior very quickly. This, in turn, would increase the rate at which uranium reserves diminish due to the increased rate of nuclear power deployment. However, breakthroughs in the extraction of uranium from the sea or deployment of fast breeder reactors would greatly extend the uranium reserves and, as well, utilize the thorium cycle. On the other hand, carbon sequestering technology breakthroughs could keep fossil fuels dominant for the remainder of the century. Nuclear power may only then continue, as today, in a lesser role or even diminish. Fusion power or new developments in solar power could completely displace nuclear power as we know it today. Even more difficult to predict is when the demand for mobile fuel for transportation will develop such that hydrogen and hydrogen rich fuel cells will be in common use. When this happens, nuclear power may be the energy source of choice to produce this fuel from water or methane. In a similar vein, the demand for potable and irrigation water may be another driver for the advent of increased deployment of nuclear power. With all these possibilities of events that could happen it appears impossible to predict with any certainty which path nuclear power deployment may take. However, it is necessary to define a strategy that is flexible enough to insure that when a technology is needed, it is ready to be deployed. For the next few decades there will be an evolutionary improvement in the performance of uranium oxide and mixed uranium oxide-plutonium oxide (MOX) LWR fuels. These improvements will be market driven to keep the cost of fuel and the resulting cost of nuclear power electricity as competitive as possible. The development of fuels for accelerator transmutation and for reactor transmutation with inert matrix fuels is in its infancy. A great deal of research has been initiated in a number of countries, which has been summarized in recent conferences. In Europe the work on these fuels is directed at the same problem as their utilization of MOX; namely to reduce the inventory of separated plutonium, minor actinides, and Long Lived Fission Products (LLFP). In the United States there is no reprocessing and thus no inventory of separated civilian plutonium. However, in the United States there is a resistance to a permanent spent fuel repository and thus accelerator transmutation presents a possible alternative. If nuclear power does have a long-term future, then the introduction of the fast reactor is inevitable. Included in the mission of the fast reactors would be the elimination of the inventory of separated plutonium while generating useful energy. The work that is ongoing now on the development of fuel concepts for assemblies that contain actinides and LLFP would be useful for fast reactor transmutation. There is still a great deal of work required to bring the fast breeder reactor option to maturity. Fortunately there is perhaps a fifty-year period to accomplish this work before fast breeders are necessary. With regard to fast reactor fuel development, future work should be considered in three stages. First, all the information obtained over the past forty years of fast reactor fuel development should be completely documented in a manner that future generations can readily retrieve and utilize the information. Fast reactor development came to such an abrupt halt world-wide that a great deal of information is in danger of being lost because most of the researchers and facilities are rapidly disappearing. Secondly, for all of the existing fast reactor fuels, and this includes, oxides, carbides, nitrides, and metallic fuels, the evolutionary work was far from being completed. Although mixed oxide fuels were probably the furthest advanced, there were many concepts for improved claddings and advanced fabrication methods that were never fully explored. Finally, with such an extended period before fast reactors are needed there is ample time for truly innovative fuels to be developed that are capable of performing over a wide range of conditions and coolants.

Alteration of monazite and zircon and lead migration as geochemical tracers of fluid paleocirculations around the Oklo–Okélobondo and Bangombé natural nuclear reaction zones (Franceville basin, Gabon)

Large-scale light rare earth element (LREE), uranium, lead and phosphorus migration has been evidenced in the FA Lower Proterozoic sandstones of the Franceville basin (Gabon) hosting Oklo natural nuclear reaction zones (RZ) in relation with extensive accessory mineral alteration by highly saline diagenetic brines (28.7 wt.% NaCl eq. to 30 wt.% CaCl 2 eq.) at about 140°C and 1 kbar. Monazite is the most severely altered accessory mineral in the coarse-grained sandstones of the basal FA formation. Detrital monazite crystals are altered to Th–OH silicate microcrystalline phase with very low concentrations of U and LREE. The Th/La ratio increase from non-altered (Th/La∼0.27) to altered sandstones (Th/La∼1.14) shows that about 76% of the LREE was leached. This corresponds to the leaching of 2.01×10 9 metric tons at the scale of the FA formation in the Franceville basin. Similarly, the Th/U increase from monazite (Th/U=18.6) to the Th-silicate phase (Th/U=88.7) is interpreted as a result of an alteration by oxidizing brines with leaching of U together with LREE and P. It corresponds to the leaching of 9.06×10 6 metric tons of uranium. This amount of uranium largely exceeds the known uranium reserves from the Franceville basin. In zircon crystals, the cores are generally homogeneous, weakly fractured and well preserved as attested by the Archean ages (2867±24 and 2865±51 Ma) obtained by ionic microprobe analysis on zircon of the FA Formation, respectively, from the marginal and central parts of the basin. Their composition corresponds to the pure end-member (Zr,Hf)(SiO 4), poor in Th and U (Th/U∼1). At the contrary, their rims, which present several growth zones with cracks fillings, are enriched in REE, P, Th and U with higher Th/U ratios (5–10). Both altered monazite and altered zircon contain galena as numerous inclusions in the outer growth zones and as crack fillings. For example, in zircon, the Pb of galena crystals (3–23 wt.%) largely exceeds the amount of Pb (maximum 0.1 wt.%) that would have been produced in situ by radioactive decay in this mineral. Nearly all the lead were introduced into altered zones of accessories. Dissolution of accessory minerals occurred at 2000 Ma, producing a porous and distorted crystal structure which has allowed a later incorporation of Pb. Galena inclusions in altered zircons located in the vicinity of reactor zones have radiogenic lead compositions. Altered zircon rims and galena inclusions in altered zircon located far from reactor zones have non-radiogenic Pb isotopic compositions, confirming the external origin of lead. Pb isotopic evolution models indicate a crystallization age sometime after 1000 Ma, both for galena located close to and far from U mineralizations and reactor zones, which may be synchronous with a regional extension event contemporaneous with intrusion of dolerite dyke swarms, between 1000 and 750 Ma, at the scale of the Franceville basin. The present study also illustrates the different retention capacities of accessory mineral for elements representing analogs of the radiotoxic nuclides in the relatively extreme natural conditions created by the circulation of moderately hot and chloride-rich fluids during the diagenesis of a sedimentary basin.

What is the potential use of thorium in the future energy production technology?

Today's nuclear technology has principally been based on the use of fissile U-235 and Pu-239. While the natural thorium isotope Th-232 can finally be transformed to a fissile U-233 nucleus following a thermal neutron capture reaction, the existence of thorium in the nature and its potential use in the nuclear technology were not unfortunately into account with a sufficient importance. This was probably because of the geological availability of natural resources of thorium and uranium. Global distributions of thorium and uranium reserves clearly indicate that in general some developed countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia have considerable uranium reserves and contrarily only some developing countries such as Brazil, Turkey, India, Egypt have considerable thorium reserves as being totally about 70 % of the global reserve. All technical parameters obtained from the studies on thorium fuel cycle during the last 50 years indicate that thorium fuel cycle can be used in most of reactor types already operated. In addition, accelerated-driven hybrid systems promise to use the thorium based nuclear fuels. So, thorium will probably be a nuclear material much more valuable than uranium in the future. For this reason, all developing countries having thorium reserves should focus their technological attentions to the evaluation of their national thorium resources like in the case of India. In this paper a brief story on the studies of thorium and its potential use in the future energy production technology have been summarized.

Environmentalism and the Disaster Strategy

I. INTRODUCTION Thinking about the third generation of international environmental law means trying to forecast the future. Many assume that this is an impossible task and that the rule prophecy, especially for the is to be strictly observed.(1) But it is an activity which many groups love: economists, political scientists, and social researchers on the one hand; environmentalists and environmental lawyers, on the other. However there is a difference between the two groups. For the expert of the first group, the future is not necessarily worse than the present: it could even be better. On the contrary, environmentalists and environmental lawyers constantly imagine the future ranging from bad to very bad. This attitude is not a new development. It is deeply rooted in environmental thinking. Beginning with the prediction of Malthus in 1798 that starvation in Great Britain was imminent, there has been an endless chain of predictions of catastrophe concerning irreversible environmental damage and unavoidable scarcity of food, minerals, water and other natural resources. A few examples are sufficient. In 1865 Stanley Jevons predicted the end of coal in Great Britain in a few years. In 1914, the United States Bureau of Mines reported that oil reserves would last no more than ten years. According to official reports of the US Department of Interior published in 1939 -- and again in 1951 -- oil reserves would last slightly more than one decade. In 1972 a world famous book, The Limits of Growth, predicted a coming shortage of world reserves of oil, natural gas, silver, tin, uranium, aluminum, copper, lead, zinc and many other resources. All these predictions were completely incorrect.(2) Then in 1973 the World Watch Institute started its yearly forecasts of scarcity of food production. Year-by-year, predictions go on, almost always later proven inaccurate. Since 1961 the world population has doubled. And food demand has increased rapidly: every year there are 90 million more human beings to feed in the developing countries alone. Demand also increases because people in developing countries are wealthier: they have developed a taste for meat; and to fatten livestock it takes a considerable amount of grain.(3) But food production has more than doubled. Although the greater increase of production occurred in developed countries, while the population increases mainly occurred in underdeveloped ones (this makes evident that the problem is not so much of production, but of redistribution of the resources and of protectionism measures adopted and strictly implemented by rich countries against poor ones),(4) the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPI) and the World Resources Institute are persuaded that agriculture can cope with a growing population(5) for many decades to come. A similar history can be traced for pollution. During the Seventies the enemy was nuclear energy; during the Eighties, chemicals and acid rain. Chemicals were considered the principal cause of the increased incidence of cancer. However, recent medical statistics agree that the rate of mortality from cancer not related to smoking has actually declined since 1950.(6) The decline of the forests in Germany and in the U.S., confidently attributed in the past to acid rain and considered irreversible, reverted its trend years ago. FAO reports that forest cover in Europe (excluding the Former Soviet Union) increased by more than four percent between 1980 and 1994 and grew in the first half of the Nineties by three percent; in the same period growth in the United States was two percent.(7) Few today attribute the previous decline to acid rain. With cautious terms, the problem is now described as follows: Over the years, scientists, foresters, and others have watched some forests grow more slowly without knowing why. The trees in these forests do not grow as quickly as usual. …

Accelerator driven sub-critical systems with enhanced neutron multiplication

Utilisation of thorium, by way of the U-Th cycle, is of particular interest to the Indian Nuclear Power Programme because of large thorium deposits and limited Uranium reserves. Several schemes, such as fast and advanced heavy water reactors, leading to thorium utilisation, are under study at this centre. The present paper discusses a scheme for evolving a practical accelerator driven sub-critical U-Th system with increased neutron multiplication and consequentually a reduced requirement of the accelerator current. It is shown that the requirement of the accelerator current is considerably reduced if a sub-critical assembly with a given K eff is composed of two partially coupled regions.

Estimating U.S. uranium reserves

This article presents information on the Energy Information Administration’s (U.S. Department of Energy) annual estimates of U.S. uranium reserves. Encompassed is information for year-end 1997’s uranium reserves, which were estimated by employing numerous resources.

Perspectives of the thorium fuel cycle

In the 1960s and 70s, great interest developed in the thorium fuel cycle as a supplement to limited uranium reserves. A great amount of work was carried out and many interesting developments resulted, among which were prototype high temperature reactors. It was shown that thorium could be used practically in any type of existing reactor. These initiatives have been virtually brought to a halt for various reasons, except in India, which has continued with its thorium activities. Recently however, new considerations have revived interest in thorium. An overview of the specificities of the thorium fuel cycle was carried out and the most interesting projects launched in the 1960s are recalled. The new concepts are analyzed briefly and some lines of thought for the future are proposed.

Uranium Reserves Reassessed

Uranium Reserves Reassessed

A Japanese strategic uranium reserve: A safe and economic alternative to plutonium

Japan could acquire a 50-year reserve of low-enriched uranium fuel for its nuclear power plants at about half the cost of its plutonium program, providing energy security and major economic and political benefits. Fuel for light-water reactors made with plutonium costs four to eight times as much as conventional uranium fuel. Japan can develop a Strategic Uranium Reserve to address its energy security concerns and eliminate any need to proceed now with plutonium recycling with its many attendant costs and nuclear proliferation risks. Such a reserve could provide as much as a 50-year, energy-secure timeframe within which Japan could develop the commercial breeder reactor later on, if necessary. A discounted cash flow analysis demonstrates that, by developing a 50-year uranium reserve instead of a commercial plutonium and breeder program, Japan could save up to $22.7 billion. Savings would be greater (up to $38.4 billion) if an enriched-uranium reserve smaller than the extreme 50-year example or a reserve of natural uranium were acquired. The reserve would also make a major contribution to keeping the Asia-Pacific region free of weapons-usable nuclear materials.

Complexation of the Uranyl Ion with the Aminomethylenediphosphonates MAMDP and AMDP

The use of uranium as a nuclear energy source has made it a valuable mineral resource over the past forty years. Processing uranium generally involves leaching the metal as the uranyl ion (UO{sub 2}){sup 2+} from ore, followed by solvent extraction, precipitation or batch adsorption onto ion exchange-type resins. Uranium reserves exist also in the form of UO{sub 2}(CO{sub 3}){sub 3}{sup 4{minus}} dissolved in seawater, and although these concentrations are very low they represent globally some 4.9 x 10{sup 9} tons. In the interest of tapping this resource efforts toward developing more efficient and selective means of UO{sub 2}{sup 2+} ion sequestering have been underway for some time. The authors have measured the stability and protonation constants of the different complexes formed in aqueous solution between the UO{sub 2}{sup 2+} ion and the compounds N,N{prime}-dimethylaminomethylenebis(phosphonic acid) (MAMDP) and aminomethylenebis(phosphonic acid) (AMDP). From these data one can evaluate the potential for compounds of this type to be useful as uranyl ion sequestering agents.

Uranium Reserves Worldwide

The Uranium Institute has developed a set of definitions for classifying uranium resources and places the resources into three cost categories. The definitions are given in full, and are supplemented by tables giving the current statistics together with a production forecast to the year 2010. All the statistics are derived from current Uranium Institute reports.