World Energy Outlook 2006

natural and enriched uranium, the reprocessing of spent fuel and the reenrichment
of depleted uranium tails – a waste product of uranium enrichment.
The share of secondary sources is expected to decline, mainly because of the end
of the “Megatons to Megawatts” programme, agreed by the US and Russian
governments in 1993, which co-ordinates the blending of highly-enriched
uranium from nuclear warheads with low-enriched uranium fuel for use in
commercial nuclear power plants. The 275 tonnes converted to date could
generate enough electricity to meet US demand for more than a year. Upon
completion of the programme in 2013, 500 tonnes of highly-enriched uranium
from Russian nuclear warheads will have been used. Russia and the United States
plan to release 34 tonnes of plutonium each, which will be used in MOX fuel. 13
Uranium Resources 14
Uranium resources are reported by confidence level and production cost
category. In 2005, 43 countries reported total resources in all confidence and
cost categories of 14.8 million tonnes (Table 13.12). Uranium resources are
widely distributed around the world, with significant known uranium
resources found in Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Niger, the Russian
Federation, South Africa and the United States. The top fifteen countries,
which account for 96% of the global resources, are shown in Figure 13.13.
Table 13.12: Total World Uranium Resources (tonnes U as of 1 January 2005)
Resource category
by cost of production
< $40/kg < $80/kg < $130/kg Total*
Reasonably assured 1 947 000 2 643 000 3 297 000
Inferred 799 000 1 161 000 1 446 000
Prognosticated n.a. 1 700 000 2 519 000
Speculative n.a. n.a. 4 557 000
Total 2 746 000 5 504 000 11 819 000 14 798 000
*Total across all categories includes 2 979 000 tonnes U of speculative resources with no recovery cost estimate
assigned.
Source: NEA/IAEA (2006).
Identified conventional uranium resources are sufficient for several decades of
operation at current usage rates. Figure 13.14 compares today’s uranium
resources with cumulative uranium requirements to 2030 for the lifetime of all
the reactors that are operating today and the reactors that are expected to be
13. MOX fuel or mixed oxide is a blend of plutonium and uranium oxides.
14. The discussion of uranium resources, production capacity and uranium prices is based on
NEA/IAEA (2006).
Chapter 13 - Prospects for Nuclear Power 377
13