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.

  • pec@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    10 months ago

    If you go into the detailed explanation (and can read French) they do have some hydraulic pumping included in their “batteries” section.

    In their 100% renewables scénario on a peak consumption (105gw) hour and peak energy production (sun at zenith) they would store the excess production like such:

    • 7.2gw to water pumping
    • 22gw to static batteries
    • 2gw back to the grid (chatting electric vehicles I guess).

    Also even in their most nuclear scenario (50% nuclear, 50% renewables) they still include 7.2gw of water pumping.

    I’m curious of why you put so much value in water pumping? As a Quebecois I have a small notion of how disruptive (flooding of vast areas of land, massive amounts of concrete, dead rivers downstream of the dam ) water reservoirs for hydroelectricity can be and I have a hard time imagining a viable way of relying extensively on that technique.