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Show Nuclear Power Plans Place Pressure On Uranium Suppliers (or New Ore According to latest reports re-ports in Nuclear Industry magazine, seven nuclear power plants are now under un-der construction in the United States, all scheduled sched-uled for production from IMS to 1973. An additional fourteen plants are designed and (awaiting application approval ap-proval by the Atomic Energy En-ergy Commission. These, .too, are scheduled for completion com-pletion and production in the early 1970's. ; Countless other plants are under consideration or on drawing boards by power po-wer suppliers, and several (nuclear powered plants are now in production or testing stages. One of these, the 175 mgw TVR (Yankee plant will have (been in operat:'pnf ,seven years on Nov. 7th. The impact of this nuclear nu-clear power plant con struction explosion on the .uranium Industry Is beyond be-yond the realm of comparison com-parison with past markets. For example, operation of the 21 plants now designed design-ed for the estimated 30-,year 30-,year plant lifetime will require production of some 2G.5 million tons of raw .uranium ore. By comparison, in the 43 year span from 1904 to 1947, the whole state of Utah produced only 115,-500 115,-500 tons of uranium ore. Ten years later production produc-tion had reached 1,017,847 tons; and by the end of the next decade, decreased decreas-ed to 446,753 tons In 19GG and 116.054 tons by the first hall of 1967. A frenzy of exploration work is now underway in Southeastern Utah, in an effort to increase uranium reserves. A Ivvikdown of uranium nerdei to operate oper-ate one nuclear plant proves prov-es this exploration work is long overdue. Nuclear plants are designed de-signed for various megawatt mega-watt power, but to show the scope to which the uranium industry must expand ex-pand to keep pace with the nuclear ago, one local industrialist made some average calculations. An average 1,000 mgw plant, for example, requires re-quires 800 tons of U30.9 to go into production. "To obtain tho 800 tons of U308 for tho initial charge 0f a 1,000 mgw plant, uranium miners must produce 228,571 tons of raw uranium ore, based bas-ed on the 7 lbs of U308 that one ton of average Moab area ore will assay. But the initial charge is not the end of uranium needs for a nuclear plant. Each year the reactors must be rejuvenated. Rejuvenation Re-juvenation of a 1,000 mgw plant requires .12 ton, or 240 lbs., of refined U30fi per mgw, or 240,000 lbs. of U308 per year for the 1,000 mgw plant. The life of1 a nuclear plant is estimated at 30 years. Over a 30 year period, per-iod, rejuvenation ore requirements re-quirements for one 1,000 mgw plant total 7,200,000 lbs. of U308. To obtain this amount of refined U308, uranium producers must deliver to plants such as Atlas Minerals of Moab, 1,028,571 tons of .3! uranium ore. Tho initial charge, and rejuvenation over a 30-year 30-year period for a 1,000 mgw nuclear power plant requires delivery of 1,-257,142 1,-257,142 tons of raw .35 uranium ore. Thusly, assuming the 21 plants now designed average av-erage 1,000 mgw capacity, operations for a 30 year period will require 2G',2 million tons of raw uranium uran-ium ore, again based on the average Moab o. e assay. as-say. The market for uranium ore does not end with charges for nuclear plants, JiMwovier. New uses are being researched each day. On Nov. 14 the "Gasbug-gy" "Gasbug-gy" shot l.s scheduled at ,F. "'on, N.M., in an alter ' ,r prove use of uranium to coax natural gas from ii.i,: m 'e formations. for-mations. If s'". uessful,, some authorities estimate gas reserves of the U. S. could be increased almost 300 trillion cubic feet. Forty explosions such as Gasbuggy could reportedly release. $40 billion of natural nat-ural gas at present prices. |
