Nuclear Fuel Resources

The generation of electricity from nuclear fuel was incidental to the arms race as production rose rapidly during the 1950s to satisfy the military requirement for highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Uranium is the basic raw material for nuclear power. Uranium is a slightly radioactive metal that occurs throughout the earth’s crust. It is 500 times more abundant than gold; 40 times as silver; and about as common as tin, tungsten, and molybdenum. While nuclear power is the predominant use of uranium, heat from nuclear fission can also be used for industrial processes. It is also used for marine propulsion, whereas research reactors are important for making radioisotopes. Measured resources of uranium, the amount known to be economically recoverable from ore bodies, are naturally relative to costs and prices. The major primary ore mineral is uraninite or pitchblende, though a range of other uranium minerals are found in particular deposits.