America's Nuclear Supply Chain (Ditching Russian Uranium) || Peter Zeihan

We're finally seeing signs of life in Congress with the recent progress made on the establishment of a domestic uranium supply chain. This move aims to cut dependence on the Russians - who dominate global uranium processing.

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#nuclear #uranium #energy

[AaronJohnson]

As an Australian, I cannot express enough my frustration with my country's hopeless stance on the global nuclear supply chain.
With 40% of global Uranium and the most geologically stable continent on the planet, we could be a global leader in whole-of-lifecycle nuclear fuel supply, reprocessing and secure long term waste storage and our political leadership has their heads in the sand.

[ferdimond]

Fun story: the austrians built a nuclear powerplant in the 80s for a ludicrous amount of money. Once construction was complete and they were ready to turn it on, a referendum was called and the people decided they did not want this nuclear power plant, so it was never actually turned on and just rotted for the past almost half century. There is now an active nuclear reactor in austria however, a research one at the TU vienna. That one needs to be refuelled every couple of years (by the americans), for which they shut down like half the city centre for a day

[persistentwind]

MIT was working a process to recycle spent uranium... we have more than enough to do this for a few 100 years. The issue is these processes are very similar to those used to enrich to the 90% and up required to make an explosive device. Thus it was banned, those laws need to change.

[daneast]

This is similar to rare earths. The US production of rare earths crashed to virtually nil over the last several decades. That's because China went crazy mining their own rare earth metals (in extremely environmentally disastrous ways, thus they were mining them very inexpensively), and using them to produce electronics at a very low price. Meanwhile, US companies wisely realized they could never compete with that, and stopped mining them. Thus they are simply sitting there in the ground still ready for us to mine them when it makes economic sense (and, in the process, we have conserved them for later use). Exact same thing with the uranium. We've been using up the uranium that Russia has gone to the trouble to mine and procure, thus saving our own natural supplies.

[campfireeverything]

Glad my country gets to help out! 🇦🇺🙌🇺🇸

[xenomorph]

The problem with an energy grid like this isn't congress or new laws. It's public support. Too many people are unjustifiedly terrified of nuclear power due to non-education and personal fears. I'm 100% for it across the board, as nuclear power is not only insanely clean but insanely efficient. But swaying public opinion will be THE issue.

[SoggySox]

Australia has had a massive block on Uranium anything ever since Maralinga. (If you don’t know about that bit of stupidity, look it up. TLDR, we became the only country to sell uranium to a foreign power, and then allow that power to conduct nuclear testing on our soil)
It’s good to see that we are moving forward with it now

[garyp]

I believe Southern company just built 2 new reactors in Georgia. Before that the last one built in the US was Palo Verde in Arizona 60 miles outside of Phoenix which was built in the 80's.

[matthewbittenbender]

It was 1979 Peter. I remember because I was in third grade, lived an hour from there. and my parents were fighting viciously all the time and on the verge of divorce. On that Spring day, they actually for a moment seemed like they cared about each other and went from thinking we were all going to die to pulling together to get out of the fallout zone. When it was overeverthing seemed normal, but by Summer they filed for dovorce anyway and separated. In a strange parallel they seem to be like Congress today: petty, squbbling and dysfinctional, but can actually be functional in a crisis, at leadt until its over.

[edwardwilson]

Peter:
Do note that the Canadian reactor [Candu] 1) does NOT REQUIRE ENRICHED FUEL. 2) fuels continuously so has a shut-down only once in seven years, the shut-down at 28 years is longer than six weeks. The US machine, with its six-meter diameter 3000-pound flange, and has to be shut down for 6 weeks to refuel every 18 - 24 months. 3) The Candu has a smaller pressure volume diameter and requiring only 1/2 inch thick Zirconium to hold, not 13-inch thick steel, 4) The candy can 'burn' SPENT US NUCLEAR FUEL@ 9000 ppm and get 175% of the theoretical energy in it Or natural Uranium at 7000 PPM fissionable 5) depending on how you run it you get either 300 PPM or 150, 000PPM Fissionables out of it

The US AEC will never allow this wonderful machine into the US, despite being able to inspect operating machines that have survived failures that would have destroyed the containment of a US machine, because it isn't invented in the US.

[michaeldowson]

Saskatchewan, Canada has the largest known high-grade uranium deposits in the world.

[kenduncan]

In the mid 80's my dad was a general mine foreman for United Nuclear Corporation in Glenrock, Wyoming where they mined Uranium yellow cake. Later, Silver King bought the mine and they started mining silver. It is interesting to see how your geopolitical analysis breaks down into the history that we lived and affected us.

[Bob-qkzg]

Uranium 235 is usually not used in bombs. Plutonium 239 is used for warhead cores.

[emberverse.eth.]

It wasn’t bipartisanship that got this bill passed, it was corporate interests and legalized bribes through campaign donations.

[dennisenright]

Canada is probably not pursuing uranium enrichment as its CANDU reactor design does not require enriched uranium.
Ontario last fall decided to add eight new reactors to its existing sixteen, as well as changing its mind on the planned shutdown of four. Any ideas as to why it is the continents best jurisdiction for nuclear power?

[gibu]

What about investing in / creating a reprocessing industry? We have quite a built up mountain of supply for reprocessing. Any momentum for investing in this side of the industry as part of the solution? This would then help with the "waste" side of the argument.

[hkszerlahdgshezraj]

Just clicked to hear you say "nookilar" :D

[DumbSkippy]

Australia only has a single research reactor (Lucas Heights) used to make TC 99. We don't refine past yellow cake and that's for export.

[Emfuser]

Some corrections:
The process is mining --> refinement --> conversion to gas (usually) --> enrichment to 3-5% but no higher than 5% currently. No commercial reactors in the US have gone past 5% yet but there are designs in development to do so. It's not a technical barrier. It's a regulatory line that nobody has wanted to deal with just yet.

[richards]

The GOOD NEWS is that it's difficult for this Congress to do anything The less they "do for us;" the better off we are.