So long peak oil, here comes peak uranium

We all got used to hearing about peak oil, especially after a whistleblower recently alleged that the International Energy Agency has downplayed a looming oil shortage to appease the U.S. and prevent panic buying. What we haven’t heard much about is the looming uranium shortage. Last week, Michael Dittmar, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, said that the world is running out of uranium and nobody seems to have noticed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency forecast last year said that power generated from nuclear plants could double by 2030 as governments look to alternative energy sources. So while there is great investment in nuclear power, uranium is not plentiful.

The Physics arXiv Blog writes:

The world’s nuclear plants today eat through some 65,000 tons of uranium each year. Of this, the mining industry supplies about 40,000 tons. The rest comes from secondary sources such as civilian and military stockpiles, reprocessed fuel and re-enriched uranium. “But without access to the military stocks, the civilian western uranium stocks will be exhausted by 2013, concludes Dittmar.

Moreover, it’s not clear where miners can look for more. So with some countries relying more on nuclear energy than others such as Japan, some may face a shortage as soon as 2013.

However, not every agrees with this bleak picture. The International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Energy Agency say there’s enough uranium to power existing plants for 100 years. Although, they admit that “uranium supply shortfalls could develop if production facilities are not implemented in a timely manner.” At the end of 2006, world uranium production provided about 60% of world reactor requirements, meaning that about 40% of uranium supplies came from stockpiles and old weapons.

Still, miners, it seems don’t have enough incentive.

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