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Coal contains between 1 to 10 ppm of uranium. Globally about 8 billion tonnes of coal is burned every year to generate electricity. Thus between 8 thousand and
by HyperSane 3y ago
Coal contains between 1 to 10 ppm of uranium. Globally about 8 billion tonnes of coal is burned every year to generate electricity. Thus between 8 thousand and 80 thousand tonnes of Uranium is emitted into the atmosphere every year.
- Filligree 3y agoWhich… I’m not sure, but that might be more uranium than would be needed in the first place to run our entire civilisation on nuclear power? Certainly it’s in the ballpark.
- p_l 3y agoJust current reserves, with breeder fuel cycles, would allow us at least a century, long enough to start building in space...
- cinntaile 3y agoIt's not a a useful measure, since no one would collect uranium in this way but assuming someone would. Some napkin math... 27 tonnes per 1GW reactor/year is used and there are about 440 reactors so about 12kton.