Known resources #
A good yardstick for the long-term security of the supply of raw materials is the number of known
reserves in the ground, which we are sure can be extracted with known technology.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the OECD’s Office of the Atomic Energy Agency,
called: Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), jointly published a report regarding the supply security of
uranium every two years.
The short version of their conclusion is that uranium is abundant [1]. On page 14 of their report from
2022, they write:
“Sufficient uranium resources support the continued use of nuclear power and significant growth in nuclear power capacity for electricity generation and other benefits (e.g., heat, water, hydrogen)”.
Alternative fuel supply #
When new advanced reactors, which are in rapid development, become market-ready, it will be
possible to use nuclear waste and nuclear weapons to produce energy. About 95% of the energy is
left in the material that we consider nuclear waste, which provides a plentiful alternative fuel supply.
If Europe used only the nuclear waste they have generated so far, it could generate carbon-free
electricity for Europe for up to 1000 years [2].
Furthermore, some new advanced reactors can also use Thorium as fuel. There is approximately four
times as much Thorium as Uranium on Earth [3].
Unconventional resources #
Uranium is not a rare element. On the contrary, it is found everywhere on the earth in small
amounts. The challenge is that it must be in high enough concentrations at a given location before it
makes economic sense to extract.
Uranium is everywhere in the world’s oceans, and there are conversely good prospects for extracting
this despite small quantities. This is because when uranium is extracted from seawater, more
uranium will naturally be released from the subsoil, as the sea will maintain its chemical balance.
This means that for many years, there will be approximately 4 billion tonnes of uranium still
available in the sea today. There are already prototype-stage technologies for extracting uranium
from seawater, but at the moment, it is still significantly more expensive than uranium from
conventional mining [4].
How much longer? #
If we imagine that all energy comes from nuclear power, how long will we have to use all the
technologies mentioned again? About 4 billion years. So no, we will only run out once [5].
Sources
1- https://www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_79960/uranium-2022-resources-production-and-demand
2- https://www.replanet.ngo/_files/ugd/dccfdc_cd3102ec02be4b35b810c531c4d472d5.pdf
3- https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/thoriums-long-term-potential-in-nuclear-energy-new-iaea-
analysis
4- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/07/01/uranium-seawater-extraction-makes-
nuclear-power-completely-renewable/
5-https://whatisnuclear.com/nuclear-sustainability.html
