Demand for uranium for reactors seen jumping 28% by 2030 -report
www.reuters.com
Demand for uranium in nuclear reactors is expected to climb by 28% by 2030 and nearly double by 2040 as governments ramp up nuclear power capacity to meet zero-carbon targets, the World Nuclear Association (WNA) said in a report on Thursday.

Nuclear capacity is expected to rise by 14% by 2030 and surge by 76% to 686 GWe by 2040, the report said

This is only good news if it displaces thermal coal and gas generating stations.

  • Blake [he/him]
    32·
    1 year ago

    The entirety of the US could be powered by solar power if they converted 10% of land which is just parking spaces to solar farming, and there would still be enough parking spaces left in the country to have seven for every car. The amount of land required for the benefits is completely inconsequential.

    Meanwhile, for nuclear:

    • more CO2 equivalent emissions per kWh than renewables
    • very harmful extraction of uranium ore
    • industrial processes to refine uranium ore are polluting
    • huge quantities of concrete are consumed to build a nuclear plant, concrete is an extremely environmentally harmful material
    • huge amounts of industrial traffic moving astronomical quantities of materials across the country for building and dismantling plants
    • huge amounts of water consumed and irradiated by operating plants
    • much more maintenance required
    • bouh@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      The space might be available in the US, but it’s not in Europe.

      The co2 emission from nuclear is less than from renewables. That’s a hard fact.

      Lithium extraction is as bad a uranium.

      The quantities needed to build solar or wind are far larger than for nuclear. And need to rebuild them twice or three times more often.

      You need to stop to make up fantasies about renewables.