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THE Uranium Supply Thread pt 4 (merged)

Discussions of conventional and alternative energy production technologies.

Re: Brown solution to peak money, peak oil= NUKES!

Unread postby cube » Mon 28 Jan 2008, 03:08:37

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'I') don't get why the Brits are so fucking tardy. 10 years, are you kidding me?

I would be saying too much if I explained why. Let's just say there are sacred cows, allowances have to be made for special interest groups and one routinely has to accept delays which enter the realm of the surreal. Only a crisis will empower us to confront this dysfunctionality.
It seems that your country and mine have much in common.

Here's my prediction: The Brits will waste another good 5 years. By then there will be a crises. I think the future of Britain is going to look a little bit like this...or perhaps Europe in general. :wink:
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Re: Brown solution to peak money, peak oil= NUKES!

Unread postby mos6507 » Mon 28 Jan 2008, 03:49:55

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '
')Here's my prediction: The Brits will waste another good 5 years. By then there will be a crises. I think the future of Britain is going to look a little bit like this...or perhaps Europe in general. :wink:
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The situation is already like that. It's just that Russia hasn't seen fit to turn the screws yet. But they certainly could, like to stop the missile shield project.
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Re: Brown solution to peak money, peak oil= NUKES!

Unread postby Starvid » Mon 28 Jan 2008, 05:27:32

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '[')img]http://cblog.thule-italia.org/uploads/06.01.05.PipeWrench-X.gif[/img]

That's a highly misleading cartoon. A more accurate one would have Putin in the bind, with the text on the pipe reading "Ukrainian gas transit monopoly" and Putin desperately stretching for Nord stream and South stream.
Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
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Re: Brown solution to peak money, peak oil= NUKES!

Unread postby Twilight » Mon 28 Jan 2008, 15:55:16

If anything, we will be most vulnerable to disruptions in Algeria, Nigeria and Qatar. But Russia's influence will undoubtedly increase towards the end of next decade. The squabbles do not reach across the Channel - for now. Unfortunately the general public is likely to remain bitterly divided on energy policy until we do experience real problems.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby Starvid » Mon 21 Apr 2008, 07:15:45

The last time the price of uranium was quoted in this thread it was at $90. Now it is $68. The speculative uranium bubble has been bursting as exploration has showed that the resource is very abundant.
Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby mkwin » Mon 21 Apr 2008, 10:27:18

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'T')he last time the price of uranium was quoted in this thread it was at $90. Now it is $68. The speculative uranium bubble has been bursting as exploration has showed that the resource is very abundant.


The Redbook is out soon also. I am standing by my previous guess, a massive rise again in proven and probable reserves, which will be the final nail in the uranium supply insuffcienty argument.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby TonyPrep » Mon 21 Apr 2008, 15:42:51

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'T')he Redbook is out soon also. I am standing by my previous guess, a massive rise again in proven and probable reserves, which will be the final nail in the uranium supply insuffcienty argument.
A book will never make it a renewable resource or a resource that can be extracted at any rate required or always at a net energy gain or a resource that will not damage the environment during extraction.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby mkwin » Mon 21 Apr 2008, 16:48:42

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TonyPrep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'T')he Redbook is out soon also. I am standing by my previous guess, a massive rise again in proven and probable reserves, which will be the final nail in the uranium supply insuffcienty argument.
A book will never make it a renewable resource or a resource that can be extracted at any rate required or always at a net energy gain or a resource that will not damage the environment during extraction.


We are talking about Uranium not coal.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby EnergySpin » Mon 21 Apr 2008, 22:50:44

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'T')he last time the price of uranium was quoted in this thread it was at $90. Now it is $68. The speculative uranium bubble has been bursting as exploration has showed that the resource is very abundant.


So M_B_S's posts peaked too or not ?
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby TonyPrep » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 04:36:22

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TonyPrep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'T')he Redbook is out soon also. I am standing by my previous guess, a massive rise again in proven and probable reserves, which will be the final nail in the uranium supply insuffcienty argument.
A book will never make it a renewable resource or a resource that can be extracted at any rate required or always at a net energy gain or a resource that will not damage the environment during extraction.


We are talking about Uranium not coal.
I know. Uranium has to be mined or extracted and processed, does it not?
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby Starvid » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 05:01:54

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TonyPrep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TonyPrep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'T')he Redbook is out soon also. I am standing by my previous guess, a massive rise again in proven and probable reserves, which will be the final nail in the uranium supply insuffcienty argument.
A book will never make it a renewable resource or a resource that can be extracted at any rate required or always at a net energy gain or a resource that will not damage the environment during extraction.


We are talking about Uranium not coal.
I know. Uranium has to be mined or extracted and processed, does it not?
The steel, aluminum, copper, concrete etc of a wind turbine has to be mined and or processed too, and you need several times as much base metals and stuff to get a kWh of wind power compared to a kWh of nuke power, according to a slide I saw at a lecture held by the chairman of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Not that it really matters when push comes to shove. Neither does your reflexive counter agruments which have been debunked at this site so many times I can't care to count all of them.
Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby TonyPrep » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 05:15:18

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'N')ot that it really matters when push comes to shove. Neither does your reflexive counter agruments which have been debunked at this site so many times I can't care to count all of them.
They haven't been debunked, otherwise I would not still raise them. But this is a bit of overreaction. All I said was that a red book could not turn uranium into a renewable resource that can be mined and processed at any rate required and always at a net energy gain. I wouldn't have thought that was controversial, though the nuclear pushers might not like to admit it.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby mkwin » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 05:58:56

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TonyPrep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TonyPrep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'T')he Redbook is out soon also. I am standing by my previous guess, a massive rise again in proven and probable reserves, which will be the final nail in the uranium supply insuffcienty argument.
A book will never make it a renewable resource or a resource that can be extracted at any rate required or always at a net energy gain or a resource that will not damage the environment during extraction.


We are talking about Uranium not coal.
I know. Uranium has to be mined or extracted and processed, does it not?


It should be pretty obvious what I meant. We mine 5 billion tons on coal a year. We mine circa 50000 tons of uranium. The scale and volume is not comparable to other resouce mining operations. To quote this as a concern or limiting factor is rediculas.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby TonyPrep » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 06:08:36

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'W')e mine 5 billion tons on coal a year. We mine circa 50000 tons of uranium. The scale and volume is not comparable to other resouce mining operations.
Absolutely right. How much ore is that? 500,000 tons? What kind of nuclear expansion would you like to see? 0%?

However, that has absolutely nothing to do with what I wrote. A book can't turn a finite resource into a renewable resource nor into a resource that can be extracted and processed at whatever rate is required, for any time period, at a net energy gain. Oh, and it can't make such extraction environmentally neutral.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby mkwin » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 07:25:46

The amount of actual ore would probably be in the tens of millions of tons. But this is still a fraction of 1% of the volume of coal alone.

My point was we use 50,000 tons a year and the experts, due to the development and discovery of new resources in the last 2 years, will likely report another upward revision in reserves. From the 3.6 millions tons of P90 reserves to what 5 million? Or more? It finishes the argument put forward by the anti-nuclear lobby that uranium supplies are insufficient.

The extraction and processing of uranium is tiny compared to other industrial materials and the production of uranium could be, and is being, expanded to meet any further demand from nuclear plants.

A book cannot make a finite resource a renewable resource you are correct. But it can prove we can run and expand nuclear power for a very long-time and use it as part of a bridging energy system. In fact the 3rd and 4th generation plants use far less uranium and can process much of the waste. So as the old 1st and 2nd generation plants are become obsolete and are replaced with ultra-efficient 3rd an eventually 4th gen plants the demand for uranium could actually fall even as nuclear power increases.

The book also dispels the nonsense put forward by people like the Energy Watch Group that uranium supplies will peak in 20 years or something. They seem to have a problem understanding the complex issue of nuclear power. Uranium is a fraction of the cost of nuclear power, it has had very little exploration and development, therefore the booked reserves are not representative of total reserves economically available. This was proven by the 36% rise in proven reserves from 2003 to 2005 because some actual development and exploration was undertaken due to the high uranium price and much more development has been undertaken since, which will show even more proven reserves booked.

Both the uranium supply and EROEI arguments are put forward by left wing green ideologues, which are distorting the energy debate. Nuclear could be expanded to take over from coal, which is far more damaging to the environment from both a mining and climate change position. I find it one of greatest paradoxes of modern times that the green movement has actually helped to bring about the climate problem by its irrational fear of nuclear power. If we had stayed on the same course we were on in the 1960’s we would have far more advanced reactors, far less coal and gas usage and far less CO2. Lets give them all a clap, all those brave souls who picketed nuclear plants in the 60’s and 70’s. Without a clue about the repercussion of their actions.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby TonyPrep » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 08:01:06

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'I')t finishes the argument put forward by the anti-nuclear lobby that uranium supplies are insufficient.

...

A book cannot make a finite resource a renewable resource you are correct. But it can prove we can run and expand nuclear power for a very long-time and use it as part of a bridging energy system.

...

The book also dispels the nonsense put forward by people like the Energy Watch Group that uranium supplies will peak in 20 years or something.

Both the uranium supply and EROEI arguments are put forward by left wing green ideologues, which are distorting the energy debate. Nuclear could be expanded to take over from coal, which is far more damaging to the environment from both a mining and climate change position. I find it one of greatest paradoxes of modern times that the green movement has actually helped to bring about the climate problem by its irrational fear of nuclear power.
The book proves nothing, if it doesn't yet exist. It also will not be able to prove any of the things you claim, though it can increase confidence that your claims are valid.

I tend to think that the truth lies somewhere between the 20 years to peak of the EWG and the thousands of years of uranium at rates limited only by waste heat levels. Unfortunately, debates like this are characterised by strong and unyielding positions on either side and the use of adjectives like "nonsense", to describe the opposing position.

Although I still consider waste to be a major worry, I would rather we tried for sustainability before embarking on a major energy build. If we don't get to sustainability then, by definition, our societies will collapse and I don't fancy having hundreds or thousands of nuclear reactors in a collapsing civilization.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby mkwin » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 09:34:17

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he book proves nothing, if it doesn't yet exist. It also will not be able to prove any of the things you claim, though it can increase confidence that your claims are valid.


The redbook is just releasing its most up to date version. The previous versions showed a large increase. It does prove beyond resonable doubt the things i claim by virtue of simple mathamatics. If we had 5 million tons of uranium producable for $120 a pound we have nearly 100 years worth at current rates of consumption. But the 5 million would not be a ceiling it would represent part of a much larger resouce that is economic with current reactors. But, even without considering new resources, when 3rd /4th generation reactors are employed that 100 years becomes 300 years due to greater effciency and reprocessing by which time breeder, thorium and or fusion would mean there is no long-term problem.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')lthough I still consider waste to be a major worry, I would rather we tried for sustainability before embarking on a major energy build. If we don't get to sustainability then, by definition, our societies will collapse and I don't fancy having hundreds or thousands of nuclear reactors in a collapsing civilization.


If civilisation collapsed I can think of many more things I don't want to be around more than a nuclear reactor. In such a scenario nuclear reactors would pose little threat as they would have been shut down. I would be more worried about where my next meal came from and avoiding getting killed by roaming gangs of looters.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby TonyPrep » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 15:33:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'I')f we had 5 million tons of uranium producable for $120 a pound we have nearly 100 years worth at current rates of consumption.
I don't think any of the nuclear advocates here are suggesting that nuclear generating capacity should remain at what we have now. An "at current rates of consumption" figure is irrelevant. If we don't replace reactors as they come to the end of their lives, that 100 years will go shooting up but I doubt you'd want that. And mathematical "proof" is not the only proof we need, since geology, technology and politics are also important factors.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'I')f civilisation collapsed I can think of many more things I don't want to be around more than a nuclear reactor. In such a scenario nuclear reactors would pose little threat as they would have been shut down. I would be more worried about where my next meal came from and avoiding getting killed by roaming gangs of looters.
I agree with your latter sentiment but your first is very complacent, in my opinion. If we don't get to sustainability, there is no "if civilization collapses", it will. That is the definition of unsustainability. So, sustainability comes first. If we don't manage that (and there appear to be no significant moves towards that) then you are making a big assumption that reactors will clmly be shut down and that decommissioning programmes (some scheduled at 100 years, currently) will continue to be followed carefully.

As I've said, this debate continues to be characterized by unswerving views at both ends. For my part, as a former nuclear advocate, I would support it again, within a stable sustainable society. I'd also support it as part of a plan to power a transition to sustainability. Long term, however (whether that means a hundred years or a thousand years), I think it's just mad to move towards greater dependence on a finite resource, considering how such a dependence seems to be turning out at present.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby mkwin » Tue 22 Apr 2008, 17:05:18

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') don't think any of the nuclear advocates here are suggesting that nuclear generating capacity should remain at what we have now. An "at current rates of consumption" figure is irrelevant. If we don't replace reactors as they come to the end of their lives, that 100 years will go shooting up but I doubt you'd want that. And mathematical "proof" is not the only proof we need, since geology, technology and politics are also important factors.


The 100 years is just the book reserves. If capacity doubled, the demand for ore may go up by 25% and would fall back down as old reactors are replaced with ultra-effecient ones. The new 4th generation reactors in the design and testing stages may use 1/30 of the current uranium requirments of old reactors.

I$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')agree with your latter sentiment but your first is very complacent, in my opinion. If we don't get to sustainability, there is no "if civilization collapses", it will. That is the definition of unsustainability. So, sustainability comes first. If we don't manage that (and there appear to be no significant moves towards that) then you are making a big assumption that reactors will clmly be shut down and that decommissioning programmes (some scheduled at 100 years, currently) will continue to be followed carefully.


I doubt very much civilisation is going to collapse esspecialy in the west. The standard of living my decline as economic growth hits against its limits. But civilisation collapse is unlikely to the point of insignificance and if it does happen there is nothing you can do anyway. You and I would effectively be dead it does not matter if that comes at the hand of a looter or someone shooting us with a stolen army tank or someone detonating a stolen nuclear weapon. A nuclear reactor would not be on my top list of concerns. Sensible energy policy does not revolve around extremely unlikely events.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') would support it again, within a stable sustainable society. I'd also support it as part of a plan to power a transition to sustainability. Long term, however (whether that means a hundred years or a thousand years), I think it's just mad to move towards greater dependence on a finite resource, considering how such a dependence seems to be turning out at present.


Nuclear energy is the only sustainable option along with renewable energy. Gas, coal and other fossil fuels are far more finite than nuclear. Future nuclear energy does not need uranium in significant quanties but for the time being (100 years or more) it may be more economical to use the current uranium fuel cycle or by 2030 breeder or thorium reactors could be economically competitive and take over.
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Re: Uranium Supply

Unread postby TonyPrep » Wed 23 Apr 2008, 04:54:22

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'I') doubt very much civilisation is going to collapse esspecialy in the west. The standard of living my decline as economic growth hits against its limits. But civilisation collapse is unlikely to the point of insignificance and if it does happen there is nothing you can do anyway. You and I would effectively be dead it does not matter if that comes at the hand of a looter or someone shooting us with a stolen army tank or someone detonating a stolen nuclear weapon. A nuclear reactor would not be on my top list of concerns. Sensible energy policy does not revolve around extremely unlikely events.
Can you point to an independent scientific study that shows the probability? I would think it's a certainty if we don't move toward sustainability, since unsustainable societies cannot endure. Do you really think unsustainable societies will not collapse without moving to sustainable practices? As I've said, it's a complacent position to take to ignore how society may develop (degenerate) in an era when so many limits may hit it.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mkwin', 'N')uclear energy is the only sustainable option along with renewable energy. Gas, coal and other fossil fuels are far more finite than nuclear. Future nuclear energy does not need uranium in significant quanties but for the time being (100 years or more) it may be more economical to use the current uranium fuel cycle or by 2030 breeder or thorium reactors could be economically competitive and take over.
Nuclear energy cannot be described as sustainable, even if it could be proven to be long lived. If our goal is sustainability (and why wouldn't it be?) then there may be no need for more nuclear as we would certainly have to moderate our lifestyles.
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