TerraPower Developing Nuclear Reactors that Run on Depleted Uranium

Perhaps the uranium industry’s fear of peak uranium is unfounded. Intellectual Ventures is preparing to spin off a company called TerraPower to develop nuclear reactors that run primarily on depleted uranium. While most nuclear reactors use enriched uranium, the depleted variety has many advantages— most importantly, a smaller amount of uranium is required to create the same amount of power.

Since less uranium is necessary, the risk of nuclear proliferation is reduced, as is the amount of toxic waste created. According to TerraPower, available supplies of depleted uranium could be used for centuries— maybe even thousands of years.

The company’s reactors will vary from only a few megawatts (enough for industrial sites) to multi-gigawatts (enough for large cities). TerraPower may also use thorium to power future reactor sites.

Photo Credit: CC-Licensed by Flickr user bionerd