In 2023, U.S. nuclear generators used 32 million pounds of imported uranium concentrate (U3O8) and only 0.05 million pounds of domestically produced U3O8. Imports accounted for 99% of the U3O8 they used in 2023 to make nuclear fuel. Foreign producers predominantly supply the U.S. front-end nuclear fuel cycle, but federal policies have been implemented … [continued]
The designation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument is not only extremely popular but its protections are long overdue.
Uranium concentrate (U3O8) production in the United States was nearly 10 times higher than the previous year in 2022, partly as a result of higher uranium prices. U.S. U3O8 production remained near historic lows despite operations resuming at the White Mesa Mill, the United States’ only operating conventional uranium mill. Using different processes, five facilities in the … [continued]
Uranium groundwater contamination at old uranium-ore processing sites is persisting despite remediation of contaminated surface materials two decades ago. The contamination is persisting at levels high enough to pose significant risks to human health — as per recent studies. It had previously been assumed that, over these last ~20 years, … [continued]
Fukushima nuclear power station as unit 4 operations commenced (screen shot from euronews broadcast, November 11, 2013.) TEPCO announced 10% completion of the spent fuel transfer this week. Tokyo Electric Power Company has reached a minor milestone in cleaning up the mess that started at its Fukushima nuclear power station … [continued]
Megatons to Megawatts was a great energy fix for its era. For ours, it’s energy efficiency. This is a guest post by Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation In 1993, the United States and the Russian Federation signed an agreement to convert 500 metric tons of highly … [continued]
Once again it appears that reality is interfering with the building of new nuclear power plants in the UK. As a result, it looks very unlikely that any new reactors will be built. Personally, this is a setback for me, as I am very much in favour of the building … [continued]
Well over four hundred tons of uranium have been converted from former Soviet Union nuclear warheads. Called “Megatons to Megawatts,” the program was started by USEC, a global energy company and leading supplier of nuclear fuel. It was planned to last twenty years and is a partnership between industry and … [continued]
Replacing uranium with thorium could see currently installed nuclear reactors recycling their nuclear waste indefinitely. Since the development of nuclear power, many different strategies for the minimisation and disposal of nuclear waste have been considered. There are two types of nuclear waste: fission product waste and actinide waste. Fission … [continued]
The safety of nuclear plants is often debated, but we rarely hear about another potential issue for nuclear energy: peak uranium. That’s the point in time when when the maximum global uranium production is reached and begins to enter a permanent decline. And while we’ve known for some time that … [continued]
