Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Energy from Nuclear Fission: Splitting Atoms
Nuclear energy is obtained by bombarding an atom of uranium-235 with
neutrons in a nuclear reactor and splitting it, thereby releasing an enor-
mous amount of energy. One ounce of uranium-235 produces the same
amount of heat as burning 17,000 gallons of oil or 170,000 pounds of
high-grade coal.
Uranium is a relatively common metal that occurs in rocks and sea-
water; it is approximately as common as tin or zinc. Economic concen-
trations of it are not uncommon. Australia is the Saudi Arabia of uranium
ore with nearly a quarter of the world's known reserves (
table 7.3).
Canada, however, has the richest deposits. As is true of any other com-
modity obtained by mining, the amount of reserves depends in large part
on the economics of extraction of the metal from the rock, processing,
and importance of the metal. Changes in costs or prices or further explo-
ration may signifi cantly alter the amount of reserves. Since 2004, Aus-
tralia's percentage of the world's reserves has decreased from 28 percent
to 23 percent and Canada's from 14 percent to 8 percent, but the per-
centage in the United States has increased from 3 percent to 6 percent.
Table 7.3
Uranium reserves in a known current total of 5,469,000 tons of ore
Country
Percentage of world ore
Australia
23
Kazakhstan
15
Russia
10
South Africa
8
Canada
8
United States
6
Brazil
5
Namibia
5
Niger
5
Ukraine
4
Jordan
2
Uzbekistan
2
India
1
China
1
Mongolia
1
Others
4
Source: World Nuclear Association (2008).
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