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The outflow is from the earth's crust at the bottom of the ocean. Sure, it doesn't get replaced. But there's enough uranium to last on the order of billions of
by manfredo 7y ago
The outflow is from the earth's crust at the bottom of the ocean. Sure, it doesn't get replaced. But there's enough uranium to last on the order of billions of years. By this logic, solar power isn't renewable either because the hydrogen in the sun doesn't get replaced.
- pfdietz 7y agoNo, I believe it's mostly from rivers. Oceanic crust is depleted in uranium relative to continental crust. Moreover, uranium becomes soluble in oxidizing conditions (as U(VI)), not in reducing conditions (as U(IV)).
- pfdietz 7y agoI misread what you wrote there. Anyway, in steady state the consumption from the oceans can be only equal to the inflow from rivers. If that's (as I've seen estimated) 25,000 tons/year, that's enough to power the world if breeders are used, but not enough if today's thermal burner reactors are used.