Lawrence,
I've taken the following tables from AECL's Intranet: (sorry for the poor
alignment, but you'll get the idea, I hope. Note that this is only the
information for U, not Th. As I have mentioned before, mixed Th/U fuels
would extend our resources by quite a bit (~ a order of magnitude, I
believe) by breeding fissile U-233 from Th-232.
You are correct in that we have been swayed by incorrect logic in not
pursuing nuclear power more vigorously.
Chuck Vandergraaf
Known Conventional Resources as of January 1, 1997
(1 000 tU)
Country Reasonably Assured Resources Estimated Additional Resources
Known Conventional Resources
(Assessment Made Within Last Five Years)
Argentina 8.84 3.11 11.95
Australia 715.00 180.00 895.00
Bulgaria(a)* 7.83** 8.40 16.23
Canada 331.00 99.00 430.00
Czech Republic(b) 30.22 18.96 49.18
Finland(b) 1.50 - 1.50
France 22.36 1.40 23.76
Gabon 6.03 1.00 7.03
Germany 3.00 4.00 7.00
Greece* 1.00 6.00 7.00
Hungary(a) 0.37 15.41 15.78
India(a) 52.08 24.25 76.33
Indonesia(a)* 6.27 1.67 7.94
Kazakhstan(a) 601.26 259.30 860.56
Mongolia(a)* 61.60** 21.00 82.60
Namibia 187.36 107.52(a) 294.88
Niger 69.96 1.20 71.16
Peru(a) 1.79 1.86 3.65
Portugal 8.90 1.45(a) 10.35
Romania 6.90 8.95 15.85
Russian Federation(a) 145.00 36.50 181.50
Slovenia 2.20 10.00 12.20
South Africa 269.80 87.80 357.60
Spain 12.16 8.19 20.35
Ukraine(a) 84.00 47.00 131.00
United States 361.00 - 361.00
Uzbekistan 83.70 46.50 130.20
Zimbabwe(a)* 1.80 - 1.80
Subtotal 3 082.93 1 000.47 4 083.40
continued...
Table 21
Known Conventional Resources as of January 1, 1997
(1 000 tU)
(continued)
Country Reasonably Assured Resources Estimated Additional Resources
Known Conventional Resources
Assessment Not Made Within Last Five Years or Not Reported for 1997
Algeria(a)* 26.00 1.70 27.70
Brazil(a) 162.00 100.20 262.20
Central African Republic* 16.00 - 16.00
Denmark* 27.00 16.00 43.00
Italy* 4.80 1.30 6.10
Japan 6.60 - 6.60
Mexico(a)* 1.70 0.70 2.40
Somalia(a)* 6.60 3.40 10.00
Sweden 4.00 6.00 10.00
Turkey(a) 9.13 - 9.13
Vietnam 1.34 6.74 8.08
Zaire(a)* 1.80 1.70 3.50
Sub total 266.97 137.74 404.71
Total 3 349.90 1 138.21 4 488.11
Total adjusted (c) 3 220.00 1 079.00 4 299.00
(a) In situ resources. (b) Mineable resources.(c)
Adjusted to account for estimated mining and milling losses, not
incorporated in certain estimates.* Data from previous Red Book** Data from
previous Red Book, depleted by past production.
Uranium 1997: Resources, Production and DemandOECD/IAEA
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Johnston [mailto:johnston@uidaho.edu]
Sent: Tuesday October 03, 2000 10:56 AM
To: glenn morton
Cc: ASA@calvin.edu
Subject: Uranium and Thorium
Glenn and other ASAPHILES:
Does anyone here know of estimates of the available supplies of elements for
producing power from fission reactors? I presume that this would be
Uranium and
Thorium.
I find it ironic that the USA is largely depriving itself of this
valuable energy
source, when we developed it here, and the rest of the world is using it
more than
we are.
In facing safety issues, we have been swayed by the "logic" that it
would be
better to kill 10 people in coal mine accidents and atmospheric
contamination from
burning coal, than to kill one person in a reactor accident. Somehow it
would seem
so "weird" do die from something Nuclear.
The only person I know of in this country who has been killed by
radiation from a
fission reaction is Louis Slotin, who was performing a "critical mass"
experiment at
Los Alamos, soon after I left there in 1945. Slotin lived for several days,
after
first writing up the whole sad episode in his laboratory notebook,
presumably with
recommendations for performing such experiments by remote control, in the
future.
We need to take a realistic look at our options! That's my 3¢
worth.
Larry
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set
eternity in the hearts of men" - - Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV trans
================================================
Lawrence H. Johnston 917 E. 8th st.
professor of physics, emeritus Moscow, Id 83843
University of Idaho (208) 882-2765
http://www.uidaho.edu/~johnston/ =====================
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