The end of cheap uranium

Science of the Total Environment

Volumn 461-462, Issue , 2013, Pages 792-798

  Dittmar, Michael ^a  

^a ETH ZURICH   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

Depletion profiles; Existing and future uranium mines; Uranium mining

Indexed keywords

AUSTRALIA; DEPLETION PROFILES; HISTORIC DATA; MINE PRODUCTION; SUPPLY SHORTAGES; URANIUM FUELS; URANIUM MINING; URANIUM SUPPLIES;

DEPOSITS; NUCLEAR ENERGY; NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; URANIUM MINES;

URANIUM;

URANIUM;

MINING; NUCLEAR POWER; ORE DEPOSIT; RESOURCE DEPLETION; URANIUM;

AFRICA; ARTICLE; AUSTRALIA; CANADA; COST CONTROL; ENERGY CONSERVATION; ENVIRONMENTAL EXPLOITATION; EUROPE; METAL EXTRACTION; MODEL; NUCLEAR ENERGY; NUCLEAR POWER PLANT; PREDICTION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SOUTH AFRICA; UNITED STATES; URANIUM MINE;

AUSTRALIA; CANADA;

DEPLETION PROFILES; EXISTING AND FUTURE URANIUM MINES; URANIUM MINING;

CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 21ST CENTURY; MINING; MODELS, ECONOMIC; URANIUM;

EID: 84881253798     PISSN: 00489697     EISSN: 18791026     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.035     Document Type: Article

References (24)

1. Data about electric energy production in different countries and from the different sources can be found at For the OECD countries the data are summarized on a monthly basis at http://www.iea.org/stats/surveys/mes.pdf.
2. Data about the world nuclear reactors and their performance are available at the PRIS the IAEA data base at. http://www.iaea.org/programmes/a2/.
3. The uranium requirements under the three WNA future scenarios, a slow growth of 1-2% per year or a decline of -1%/year can be found at http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf22.html.
4. The press declaration for the publication of the 2009 edition of the Red Book contains a warning statement about uranium shortages and can be found at http://www.nea.fr/press/2010/2010-03.html.
5. The reported uranium mining results from all countries and for the last few years including 2010 are summarized at http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf23.html.
6. The 2006 review "Forty Years of Uranium Resources, Production and Demand in Perspective. The Red Book Retrospective" can be found at OECD bookshop, [A free online version can be found via "Google books."]. http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=9789264047662.
7. The latest 2009 edition of the Red Book from the IAEA and the NEA under Google books or at http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?lang=en&sf1=DI&st1=5KMD4HVBSN41.
8. The world distribution of uranium deposits from the IAEA database UDEPO can be found at The 2009 status can be found at the same site under IAEA-TECDOC-1629. http://www-nfcis.iaea.org/UDEPO/UDEPOMain.asp.
9. Detailed reports about recent uranium mining in Canada and Australia and further references can be found in the WNA documents and respectively. Data from individual deposits are also taken from and [8]. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf49i_Canada_Uranium_Mining_Historya.html.
10. The detailed McArthur River Technical report from 2009 can be found at the website of CAMECO, the main operator of the mine under. http://www.cameco.com/mining/mcarthur_river/.
11. The first quarter of 2011 results from the McArthur River mine are reported at http://www.cameco.com/media/news_releases/2011/?id=559.
12. More details about plans for future uranium mines in Australia are given in http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf48.html.
13. The paper "An even bigger hole" from John Busby with many details about the Olympic Dam project from 2007 with its 2010 update can be found at http://www.after-oil.co.uk/evenbiggerhole.htm.
14. See the statements from Vladimir Shkolnik, former energy minister and now Kazatomprom at the beginning of April 2011 http://oldn.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/kazakhstan-stockpiles-uranium-for-a-century/434615.html.
15. The uranium mines in Kazakhstan and their target plateau production values are listed at http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf89.html.
16. The particularity about the Rossing mine are given in the 2009 report IAEA-TECDOC-1629 page 45. http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1629_web.pdf.
17. Details about environmental problems related to the uranium mining in the area of Krasnokamensk are reported in an article by Heinz Högelsberger http://www.motherearth.org/nuke/uranium/kras.htm.
18. Details about uranium mining in Russia and further references can be found at http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf45a_Russia_nuclear_fuel_cycle.html.
19. See the section about new mines in the Red Book 2009 [7] page 54 and the detailed country reports at the WNA website http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx.
20. See. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf45.html.
21. The WNA mining forecast estimate can be seen in the figure at the end of the report. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf22.html.
22. The EWG 06 uranium mining forecast can be found at http://www.energywatchgroup.org/fileadmin/global/pdf/EWG_Report_Uranium_3-12-2006ms.pdf.
23. See M. Dittmar and http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.4189.
24. Dittmar See M. http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.3075.