Thursday, February 21, 2008
U.S. has a need for more uranium
From the RoundTable blog
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James L. Kelly
Kelly is professor emeritus of nuclear engineering at the University of Virginia.
The global demand for electricity is soaring. The overall world generation of electricity is expected to increase by 60 percent between 2007 and 2030.
These increases can be achieved only by the rapid construction of new generating stations, and a significant number of these new stations will be nuclear plants fueled with uranium.
The world has 440 nuclear reactors in operation, 29 under construction, 30 on order and 320 proposed. Also, there are hundreds of nuclear-powered naval vessels and research reactors in operation. In the next 15 years, China plans to build 40 new nuclear plants and Japan expects 10 more by 2010.
To fuel this growing dependence on nuclear power, the uranium mining industry must significantly increase its annual production and processing of uranium ore. The world produces approximately 108 million pounds of yellowcake uranium annually, but in 2007, consumed an estimated 178 million pounds. Likewise, the U.S. consumes about 60 million pounds yearly, yet U.S. mines produced less than 5 million pounds in 2006. The shortfall comes from a declining inventory.
Of the material mined, more than 50 percent of uranium now comes from mines in Canada, Australia and Southern Africa, with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia producing most of the rest. A U.S. and Russian agreement that supplies fuel from decommissioned nuclear weapons ends in 2013 and could leave a large hole to fill in terms of supply. Therefore, the race is on among nations to lock in sufficient fuel supplies from these various sources for future needs.
In Pittsylvania County, near the town of Chatham, lies a uranium deposit estimated to hold about 110 million pounds of uranium. It is believe by some to be the largest undeveloped deposit in the United States. The owner of this deposit, Virginia Uranium Inc., has asked the Virginia General Assembly to consider an independent scientific study funded "without strings" by credible private sources to determine the impact of mining the deposit.
The mining of uranium ore is the same as other mining operations. The steps are common to all mineral mining and are well recognized and understood. The waste rock and overburden are placed in engineered holding areas underground, often awaiting return to the mine from which it came. Since the Chatham deposit is very close to the surface, there is ready access to the ore bed and no need for deep pits.
All steps of the mining operation must conform to federal and state regulations concerning air quality, ground and surface-water pollution, and radiation exposure. At the completion of the mining operation, the whole site must be rehabilitated. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that it has reclaimed 19 inactive historic tailings sites, including one in Canonsburg, Pa., and an associated property at Burrell, Pa., near Pittsburgh.
For the long term, the world will be strongly dependent on the burning of coal and the splitting of the atom for the production of electricity. However, it is exactly these two technologies that face opposition from so many environmentalists. Very few want to do without the benefits of electricity, so what is to be done?
The green solution is to rely on renewable sources of energy, such as solar power, wind power, hydroelectric power, tidal power and wave power. But these solutions cannot by themselves provide the consistent, base level energy needs of the country. A case in point: using wind power to replace the 1,607 million watts of electricity produced by Dominion's North Anna Nuclear Power Station. The average wind speed in that part of Virginia is about 8 miles per hour. At that wind speed, nearly 20,000 of these large windmills would be needed to match North Anna's output.
As could be expected, the proposed mining operation in Pittsylvania is opposed by groups with strong environmental concerns. One of them is quoted as saying, "Right now we've got to educate people about the issue of uranium itself." Well, I wish they would, because the facts overwhelmingly support the use of nuclear power with uranium as its fuel.
Virginia is fortunate to have a large uranium ore deposit, and we Virginians should act to study the development of that deposit into an operating mine. This would benefit the economy of Pittsylvania County and Virginia, secure for the U.S. a significant domestic fuel source, and provide the nation with fuel for electric generators that are safe, clean and economical.
