When do we run out of uranium? How much is used per year?

[edpell]

When do we run out of uranium? How much is used per year? How much is in stock piles? How much is in deposits that we can afford to extract?

 

[Astronuc]

Last decades world-wide production
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/uprod.html

Uranium Supply - http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf75.html

Nuclear fuel cycle pages - http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf03.html (includes inf75)

Search the site for "Uranium reserves" and many reports will be found.

Besides uranium, there is thorium as well.

 

[edpell]

Astronuc, thanks. From these I get yearly production 43KT (1000 tones), yearly usage 65KT, reserve at current spot market price 5,500KT. So about 85 years at current rate of use. Current nuclear accounts for 6.5% of world energy per year. If we went say 65% nuclear we would have 8.5 years of reserve. Good thing we do not use much nuclear.

Yes, there is much more thorium I will look at that next.

 

[edpell]

Well I thought there was more thorium but I find 2.6x10^6 ton global reserve from
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=448&terms=thorium
assuming a Kg of U and a Kg of Th are about the same energy yield I would say there is less Th(?). A point of interest is that about 2/3 of the thorium is in India. So from a global point of view there may not be lots of thorium but from an India point of view thorium looks great.