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I thought there is not so much uranium: https://phys.org/news/2011-05-nuclear-power-world-energy.html#:~:text=Uranium%20abundance%3A%20At%20the%20current,for%20

I thought there is not so much uranium: https://phys.org/news/2011-05-nuclear-power-world-energy.html#:~:text=Uranium%20abundance%3A%20At%20the%20current,for%20less%20than%205%20years https://phys.org/news/2011-05-nuclear-power-world-energy.htm.... 5 years if all nuclear power.

himinlomax 5y ago
We keep finding petroleum because there is a huge demand for it. Known reserves of uranium are low because we're not looking for more as the demand is low. If there was a demand, there is little doubt prospection would pick up and reserves would be found.
jbverschoor 5y ago
There are other nuclear fuels as well.
5555624 5y ago
The link doesn't define "the world supply of viable uranium." Find other sources. (The article even discusses extracting uranium from seawater.) What about finding new deposits or new mines? According to the Virginia Geologic Survey, "The largest unmined uranium deposit in the United States is Coles Hill, in Pittsylvania County." (https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/dgmr/uranium.shtml https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/dgmr/uranium.shtml) Virginia currently has a moratorium on uranium mining.
arcticbull 5y ago
There's more than enough thorium to go around, though, something like 40,000 years worth.
- andi999 5y ago
  Do you have a good source for that? I only found one slightly confusing blog post.
  - andi999 5y ago
    Also just reading, it doesn't seem such a device has been build so far. Why not then compare to fusion. Hydrogen seems even more abundant than thorium.
    - arcticbull 5y ago
      CANDU reactors can use thorium fuel. Hydrogen being more abundant doesn't really matter, you have to either electrolyze it from water or extract it from hydrocarbons. [1] There's about 3x as much thorium as uranium. [2] [1] https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:29055311 https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:29055311 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium

himinlomax 5y ago

We keep finding petroleum because there is a huge demand for it. Known reserves of uranium are low because we're not looking for more as the demand is low. If there was a demand, there is little doubt prospection would pick up and reserves would be found.

jbverschoor 5y ago

There are other nuclear fuels as well.

5555624 5y ago

The link doesn't define "the world supply of viable uranium." Find other sources. (The article even discusses extracting uranium from seawater.) What about finding new deposits or new mines? According to the Virginia Geologic Survey, "The largest unmined uranium deposit in the United States is Coles Hill, in Pittsylvania County." (https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/dgmr/uranium.shtml https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/dgmr/uranium.shtml) Virginia currently has a moratorium on uranium mining.

arcticbull 5y ago

There's more than enough thorium to go around, though, something like 40,000 years worth.

andi999 5y ago
Do you have a good source for that? I only found one slightly confusing blog post.
- andi999 5y ago
  Also just reading, it doesn't seem such a device has been build so far. Why not then compare to fusion. Hydrogen seems even more abundant than thorium.
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    CANDU reactors can use thorium fuel. Hydrogen being more abundant doesn't really matter, you have to either electrolyze it from water or extract it from hydrocarbons. [1] There's about 3x as much thorium as uranium. [2] [1] https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:29055311 https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:29055311 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium