Nuclear Energy

Carbon emission and the Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Uranium mining and milling are very energy intensive processes. The rock is excavated by
bulldozers and shovels and then transported by truck to the milling plant, and all these machines use
diesel oil. The ore is ground to powder in electrically powered mills, and fuel is also consumed
during conversion of the uranium powder to yellow cake. In fact, mining and milling is so energy
intensive that if the concentration of uranium falls to below 0.01%, then the energy required to
extract it from this ore becomes greater than the amount of electricity generated by the nuclear
reactor; in other words, the nuclear fuel cycle becomes energetically non-productive. And most
uranium ores are low grade; the high-grade ores are very limited – global high-grade reserves
amount to 3.5 million tons – just enough to supply three years of nuclear power if all the world’s
energy needs were met by nuclear energy. cclix
The thousands and millions of tons of mine and mill waste should actually be chemically
treated and buried deep in the ground where the uranium originally emanated. But if this
remediation process is scrupulously observed, as it should be, then extensive amounts of fossil fuel
would be needed, making the energy costs of nuclear energy totally unviable. cclx And so the wastes
are simply left dumped on the ground, emitting radioactive elements to the air and water.
Similarly, the uranium enrichment process is also very energy intensive. For instance, in the
US, the Paducah enrichment facility uses the electrical output of two 1,000 megawatt coal-fired
plants for its operation, which emit large quantities of carbon dioxide, the gas responsible for 50 %
of global warming.
The Paducah enrichment facility and another at Portsmouth, Ohio, release from leaky pipes
93% of the chlorofluorocarbon gas emitted yearly in the US. This gas is the main culprit responsible
for stratospheric ozone depletion. But CFC is also a global warmer, 10,000 to 20,000 times more
potent than carbon dioxide. cclxi
The construction of a nuclear reactor is a very high-tech process, requiring an extensive
industrial and economic infrastructure. Constructing the reactor also requires a huge amount of
concrete and steel. Furthermore, construction has become ever more complex because of increased
safety concerns following the meltdowns at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. All this consumes
huge quantities of fossil fuels. After the reactor’s life is over, its decommissioning is also a very
energetic process.
Finally, constructing the highly specialized containers to store the intensely radioactive
waste from the nuclear reactor also consumes huge amounts of energy. This waste has to be stored
for a period of time which is beyond our comprehension – hundreds of thousands of years! Its
energy costs are unknown.
Energy Balance
A superb study made in 2004 at the request of the Green parties of the European Parliament
by senior scientists Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith, titled Nuclear Power – the
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