President Obama’s request in the 2011 Budget for additional funds for nuclear power reminded me of a post I made last July. At that time there were 436 operable nuclear power plants (373 GW) in about 30 countries generating about 15% of
the world’s power, 45 new plants were under construction, 131 were planned, and 282 had been proposed. Since then the worldwide development of new nuclear power has increased. As of February 1, 53 new plants (51 GW) are under construction, 142 (156 GW) are on order or planned, and 327 (343 GW) have been proposed. One of the major drivers for nuclear power is that it is non-emitting and does not contribute to world CO2 emissions.
About 60 per cent of the world’s production of uranium from mines is from Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. Canada produces the largest share of uranium from mines, 20.5 per cent of world supply. In 2008 Canada generated about 88.6 billion kWh from 18 nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 13 GW, about 15% of total power generation.
Australia has the world’s largest uranium reserves, 23% of the
total. Only three mines are currently operating, but more are proposed. It looks like the government of Western Australia is about to approve its
first uranium mine in three decades. There are no nuclear power plants in Australia, all uranium production is exported.
The rapid increase in demand for uranium has led to predictions of worldwide shortages in supply.
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