Max :
Second, oil was considered “virtually inexhaustible” 100 years ago. Now we rely on foreign supply from a few areas of the world. This would also happen with uranium, eventually.

World known reserves of cheaply minable uranium rose by 40% in only two years when the price of uranium spiked (uranium bubble of 2007). The relevant chart is herein Appendix A.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf75.html

I think it only shows that what we’ve discovered so far might only be the tip of an iceberg. We also know that new exploration, which is cheap compared to fossil fuel exploration, will discover new resources.

While wind and solar are “free” and “renewable” energies, their capture and transformation into usable energy isn’t free. Wind turbines aren’t made of hemp nor are solar panels – even if they were, they’d require some mechanical processing to plant, harvest and build into the respective energy-capturing device.

So compare energy density, capacity factor, land-use footprint, scalability, spin-off technologies (desalinization plants), on-demand availability, etc. As Ted Rockwell at http://www.learningaboutenergy.com states, atomic energy is orders of magnitude more efficient than anything else due to its inherent characteristics.

BTW, I have been involved in the solar arena, and remain so, primarily because it makes sense in certain limited applications.

Though nuclear reactors do require a refined fuel, people ought to also understand how Einstein’s E=mc^2 equation pays off big in nuclear energy. It changes the energy game from being a chemical fuel intensive enterprise to a more personnel intensive enterprise. Nuclear energy’s other “fuel” component then is a smart educated population that produce scientists and engineers but also a population that understands and appreciates the everyday marvels that technology brings to their lives.

Thank you for your comment.

I believe the proliferation concerns associated with reprocessing are way over blown. I am not an expert on recycling or proliferation, but there are folks out there who know a great deal about both and their opinions align with mine. There is a good deal of discussion on this topic in William Tucker’s book “Terrestrial Energy”.

I somewhat agree with you regarding the fuel supply. If we continue the current once-through fuel cycle and rely only on known uranium reserves we will run out of uranium before the end of the century. Fortunately, that is not the case.

If we don’t (1) explore for more uranium, OR (2) we don’t recycle, OR (3) we don’t build breeder reactors, OR (4) we don’t use thorium, we will eventually run out of uranium. However, these options to extend / expand the nuclear fuel supply are already starting to happen and there’s no reason to believe that trend will stop. All are within our control to do when we choose, and all can be accomplished with well-established science and engineering know-how. More importantly, all can be done at a reasonable fuel cycle cost when compared to other energy sources. In addition, we don’t have to do them all to make the fuel supply virtually inexhaustible. Any tow or three of the four options will extend the available fuel to the point it could be considered practically inexhaustible.

Simon provided an excellent link to more info in his comment above.

Thanks again for your comment!

JW

Thank you for the printable version suggestion! Check out the new link at the bottom of the post.

First, reprocessing spent fuel creates weapons-grade uranium. I believe this was the reason it was banned in the first place (in the USA). What do you think about this?

Second, oil was considered “virtually inexhaustible” 100 years ago. Now we rely on foreign supply from a few areas of the world. This would also happen with uranium, eventually.

I think nuclear is fine and it’s clearly the best option against oil we have currently. But it doesn’t compare to solar, wind, or hydro when it comes to “renewable energy.” Nothing is renewable if you have to dig it out of the earth.

Lets just call nuclear what it is: The next best thing after oil (until we find something better).