Yes indeed a lot of the predictions are based on what is only currently discovered and little real exploration is made between 1985 and 2005. The current resources found are 4.7Mt and used 68000tU/yr., which means the current supply and use right now is still enough to last for 70 years if the price for uranium never goes up (which obviously it will and that will expand the resource that is economically feasible to mine), which a longer supply than is known for most resources. With more exploration it is easily estimated they will find about 10Mt that can be extracted at current prices and with a doubling of prices the economically extractable amount is expected to increase 10 fold!

Fast breeder reactors working with a reprocessing plant can increase the energy yield from 1 ton of Uranium 60 times. Even conventional reactors are becoming more efficient. Over the 18 years to 1993 the electricity generated by nuclear power increased 5.5-fold while uranium used increased only just over 3-fold. Hence its getting more and more efficient. Finally Thorium can be used in some reactors once they are started with Uranium or Plutonium which is 3 times as abundant as uranium.

Long story short, there is a ton of Uranium on this planet and the 70 years or less is a projection if we never discover another ounce of uranium ever again, which is total bullshit.

8/14/2006 10:44:40 AM

Quote :

"Besides, how long would it take to start a Nuclear facility if we started today with all the restrictions? Why isn't that money better spent on Wind, Hydro, Tidal-electric power today? These forms of energy are more decentralized than a Nuclear power station, they create more jobs in installation and maintenance and pollute even less than Nuclear?"

1. Wind is not a viable large-scale source of power.

Oh, and I just flew over the desert in NM and AZ a couple of days ago at 28k'. I flew over a line of windmills that stretched to the horizon. Not one of them was moving at all.

and "creating more jobs in installation and maintainance" is hardly an argument for those forms. That just means that they're more labor cost intensive.

Quote :

"Pebble-bed all the way"

true

Quote :

"I just accepted a job offer at Duke Energy"

if you can get me one or two of the old Duke Power t-shirts, i'll buy them from you.

8/14/2006 11:26:05 AM

Quote :

"It wants to recycle the spent fuel in a new generation of advanced reactors that would use technologies that don't yet exist,"

yes, they do. no commercial plants of this type have been made but it's all been physically done...

8/14/2006 12:18:17 PM