NEI Nuclear Notes

For those of you who tend a bit more to the wonkish end of things, a new joint study from the OECD and IAEA on the world’s supply of uranium could make for some interesting reading.  The biennial OECD “ Red Book ” (officially known as Uranium 2009: Resources, Production and Demand ) on uranium supply was just released and it has some interesting tidbits on uranium mining and exploration that bode well for the health of the nuclear energy industry. …uranium resources, production and demand are all on the rise… Worldwide exploration and mine development expenditures have more than doubled since the publication of the previous edition…These expenditures have increased despite declining uranium market prices since mid-2007. It’s an odd thing for mining expenditures to increase as prices of a commodity drop. Usually as the value of a resource drops, there’s a pullback on production and exploration. After all, who wants to dig up a worthless rock? But with uranium, prices ar...

Of course, the increased interest in nuclear energy excites attention in parts of the United States where mining represents a substantial share of the local economy. An editorial in The Mountain Mail ("The Voice of Salida and the Upper Arkansas Valley" - Salida is in southern Colorado) supports nuclear energy from exactly this viewpoint: In southern Utah, uranium mining firms are quietly pursuing mining claims on federal lands. Just west of Marshall Pass in Saguache County, a Seattle company took control of mineral rights near the former Pitch uranium mine, which operated in the early 1980s but closed shortly thereafter. The stone of the nuclear renaissance produces interesting ripples. On a different note, the editorial notes that the Democratic presidential candidates (and Nader, of course) have downplayed nuclear energy and comes close to taunting them for it. The candidates would rather promise increased ethanol production as a means of reducing reliance on foreign oil. ...

From the AP : The [State] Senate has passed legislation establishing a 2-year study on the safety of uranium mining. Before voting 36-4 on Tuesday to pass the study, several senators stressed that they didn't support the concept but thought it wouldn't hurt to study the issue. The study eventually could result in lifting the moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia. The proposal stems from a company's desire to tap a huge uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County. It's the largest unmined uranium deposit in the nation, worth an estimated $10 billion.

Ireland's minister of energy and natural resources is working to shut down potential uranium mining there , saying it would be hypocritical for a country that doesn't use nuclear power to do so. Dave's Rants responds with some inconvenient truths.

A spike in uranium prices means more jobs mining uranium. Colorado Biz has the scoop.