How many years untill we run out of fuel for nuclear energy? - Yahoo! Answers
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tronn64 tronn64
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How many years untill we run out of fuel for nuclear energy?

Specifically, uranium and plutonium.
I know there is not an infinite supply of them, so how many years until the earth runs out of fuel to make nuclear power?
SOURCES if you have them please!
Thanks in advance :)
John W by John W
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Well, there is no plutonium. Plutonium has to be synthesized inside a nuclear reactor, that was why the nuclear reactor was created, to make weapons grade plutonium. Uranium 235 is very rare and we would run out of it quickly if we deployed more nuclear reactors. Uranium 238 is much more common and can breed plutonium in fast breeder reactors, it was the hope of the 70's to use fast breeders to circumvent the lack of U235 however we would run out of U238 quickly too. But Thorium in thermal slow breeders will breed U233 which also fissions and Thorium is plentiful, we literally can't run out of Thorium for thousands of years, indeed the Earth's molten core is mostly from the Thorium Uranium cycle.

But to answer your question, at current usage levels, the global uranium reserves will last 200 years.

Source(s):

http://energyfromthorium.com/essay3rs/
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff…
http://energyfromthorium.com/2006/04/22/…
http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl…
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Other Answers (3)

  • ? by ?
    Member since:
    November 12, 2011
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    762 (Level 2)
    Already commonly known identified resources are sufficient for at least 85 years, if considering. 2006 uranium requirements


    http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=nav…
    22% 2 Votes
    • 1 person rated this as good
  • LonerCivvy by LonerCiv...
    Member since:
    May 12, 2012
    Total points:
    579 (Level 2)
    It really does not matter at all. By the time we encounter a ' nuclear ' shortage, fusion power will be fully operational ( in theory ) and nuclear options will be left redundant.
    22% 2 Votes
  • Dora by Dora
    Member since:
    April 23, 2012
    Total points:
    1,993 (Level 3)
    maybe soon
    11% 1 Vote

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