About Us
Connect
Data Stories
Topics
MA Energy Explorer

About Us
Connect
Data Stories
Topics
MA Energy Explorer

Nuclear Energy

Seventy-five years of world uranium production and resources

Date Published: April 3, 2023

Electricity from nuclear power plants accounts for about 10% of all electricity generated in the world. Many researchers, climate change activists, and decision-makers see the expansion of nuclear energy as a key ingredient in any plan to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The story of nuclear power begins with uranium that is mined from the Earth and then processed (“enriched”) into fuel suitable for electricity generation. Like many natural resources, especially minerals, and fossil fuels, the distribution of uranium resources exhibits a distinct geographic pattern. A relatively small number of nations hold the largest quantities of recoverable resources.

Data

PNG

Embed Code

The amount of uranium available for commercial use is measured in cost categories. Lower-quality deposits require higher prices to be mined. At $130/kg U, about 6.2 million tonnes are recoverable. This would last for about 90 years at the current rate of consumption by the world’s power reactors. Just five nations (Australia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Russia, and Namibia) hold 72% of recoverable resources. Australia alone has more than 1/4 of the total, and most of that is in a single accumulation known as the Olympic Dam deposit.

Data

PNG

Embed Code

Recoverable uranium resources approximately doubled from 1997 to 2019 due to technological advances and increased exploration. In the U.S., government incentives and trade barriers fueled a development boom in the 1960s and 1970s. However, foreign competition entered the market and domestic demand fell as nuclear energy fell out of favor, leading to the observed decline in recoverable resources.

Data

PNG

Embed Code

There is a pronounced asymmetry in the pattern of uranium production and consumption. The major producers (Kazakhstan, Australia, Namibia, Uzbekistan, and Niger) have no nuclear power plants. On the other hand, the major uranium-consuming nations with a large nuclear power industry produce far less uranium than they need. These conditions are the basis for significant international trade in uranium products.

Data

PNG

Embed Code

Global, History, Nuclear, Uranium

About Us

Connect

Topics

MA Energy Explorer

Our Values

Team

FAQ

Contact Us

Subscribe

Collaborate

Donate

Well-Being

Fossil Fuels

Renewable Energy

Nuclear Energy

Climate & Environment

Electricity

End Use

Economy & Society

History of Energy

Energy Storage

Overview

Infrastructure

Energy Burden

Transportation

License: Unless otherwise noted, all visualizations, data, and stories produced by Visualizing Energy are open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This means that you have permission to copy, transform, and redistribute the material in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

A project of the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability