Why the US needs Russian uranium

The Russia-Ukraine war is exposing a problem that doesn’t get that much coverage: the nuclear fuel supply chain. Back in March 2022, President Biden announced sanctions on Russia’s energy exports, oil and gas. But uranium was left off the list.

00:00 Introduction
00:36 Russia-Ukraine War
01:19 Why uranium?
01:41 How uranium becomes nuclear fuel
04:12 The future of nuclear power
06:34 The debate behind nuclear power

Russia is a huge player on the global stage when it comes to nuclear energy and particularly when it comes to the uranium supply chain.

The US can pretty easily turn its back on Russian oil and gas and has and has not been able to pull the trigger on uranium because we rely on Russia for a significant chunk of our uranium.

It supplies about 16% of the US’s uranium supply and upwards of that when it comes to the global uranium supply.

Nuclear power is a highly contested energy source, but it still makes up about half of our carbon pollution free electricity in the U.S. Right now, the Biden administration is investing a lot of money and resources into its expansion, from extending the life span of old plants to building new ones.

#Uranium #RussiaUkraineWar #NuclearEnergy #NuclearFuel #NuclearPower #Seeker #TheVerge

Read more:
The US Can’t Seem to Quit Russian Uranium
The US’s exclusion of uranium from energy sanctions “was very frustrating because we understand that this is part of the Russian war machine,” says Kostiantyn Krynytskyi, head of the energy department at Ukrainian environmental organization Ekodia.

That uranium ore found at a Grand Canyon museum isn’t as scary as it sounds
We know that prolonged exposure to one of the decay products of uranium or radon gas in high concentrations increases your chance of getting cancer. But three buckets of ore sitting in a basement or in a closet is a lot different than somebody going down into a mine and working for 30 years mining uranium ore. It’s not just the dose rate, but it’s the total dosage you get is what determines your risk.

[Seeker]

What material should we look into next?

[tomkelly]

As a Canadian, I can tell you that our reactors do need the enrichment process. No need to develop the types of fuels that can also power bombs. We have heavy water reactors and they burn natural, domestic uranium. We are the second biggest provider of Uranium in the world next to Khazakstan. Build your processing facility if you want light water reactor fuel. We have plenty of supply for the world. Build recycling into your process like France does and you will have less high level waste and so much more fuel on hand too!

[eatingsfun]

Lol sitting here in Australia with 31% of the worlds known uranium reserves makes me feel uneasy.

[NGabunchanumbers]

Russia has a fuel called "remix" which is made basically entirely out of "nuclear waste" by burning nuclear waste in a fast-neutron breeder reactor. This breeder reactor takes stable uranium and converts it into plutonium, which can be 'burned' both in a breeder reactor or in a conventional reactor. Breeder reactors not only produce more plutonium than they use, they also produce power. It's honestly a bit overpowered.

According to the RosAtom, the Russian nuclear energy company, if the entire world switched to nuclear overnight without changing energy demand, AND we stopped mining uranium all together, we would still have enough fuel to run the entire world for ~325 years.

[fukukforever]

USA be like:- don't buy gas and oil from Russia or i will sanction you!!

Also USA:- purchasing fertilizer and Uranium 😛 from Russia

[DGG.]

Well I’m definitely not using delta, the amount of times that commercial is on this video is ridiculous

[wycliffe_ndiba]

"You guessed it, Russia" will be in my mind for a bit

Any Kenyan in here who hasn't voted yet, stations are still open...

[TheRabidne]

Why not Canadian uranium? We’ve got just as much if not more.

;)

[delta-romeo]

Fun fact: the job with the highest fatality rate in world is being an Iranian Nuclear Scientist

[LinkeHarryB]

I guess the US should perhaps invest in reprocessing, breeder reactors, and developing a viable thorium fuel cycle. That would really help with energy independence

[XenXenOfficial]

6:25 sigh. I'm sorry but you're contributing to the issue. Meltdown threats are lower than what it was like when we first started out with places like Chernobyl. We're not in the 70s-80s anymore lol Even nuclear waste management has pretty much been solved with virtually indestructible containers and 2000ft+ of earth put on top of it (Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository).

[ShowsOn]

"U235 is easily split during fission - releasing tonnes of energy." Einstein saw what you did there.

[fishsmiddy]

Australia has tonnes of Uranium. Why not use that?

[jerolvilladolid]

Did you know that nuclear power plants are just giant steam pumps? The “smoke” you see is just smoke from water boiling. Since all nuclear wizardry is dedicated to doing one thing, boil water. And have the steam from the water turn the turbines for electricity.

[ohdearearthlings]

Australia possesses around 30% of the world's known recoverable uranium reserves. This island nation is the 20th-largest economy in the world and has stable legal and political systems
The third-largest player in the global uranium market is Russia, with about 9% of the world's uranium (it's actually tied with No. 4, Canada).

[DougOfTheAntarctic]

You're telling me that Iran can concentrate uranium isotopes but the U.S. has forgotten how?

[donrumata]

McCain once said, "Russia is agas station masquerading as acountry" The gas station put the whole of Europe on all fours.

[megagene]

Nice to see Matt again. I remember when he was a regular host on this channel back in the day.

[derbigpr]

Not just uranium...but titanium (which is crucial for any military related stuff), lithium, nickel, lot's of other raw materials.

[tonys.]

Nuclear is very safe, when everything is done properly and facilities are maintained.