10 minutes of Googling world energy reserves. Don’t bet your life on these numbers, but good for the sake of comparison:
ALL fossil fuels – Oil: 534.9 billion tonnes (annual use 3.8 billion tonnes) – however 70% of this is “unconventional” – aka oil sands. Energy intensive and more expensive to extract.
Natural Gas: 179.5 trillion cubic meters (annual use 2.7 trillion cubic meters)
Coal: 909 billion tonnes (annual use 2.8 billion tonnes)
Nuclear fission : Uranium: ~11.5 million tonnes Thorium: ~34.5 million tonnes.
One metric ton (tonne) of uranium completely fissioned equals approximately 2 million tonnes of oil. So our 46 million tonnes of currently available nuclear fuel is roughly equal to 92 trillion tonnes of oil, or 24,000 years of world oil usage.
And that’s with 50 year old technology primarily because technological advances have been politically stifled. If/when subsidies dry up for the oil/gas/coal people and if lobbyists will have the same fate as bankers, this “freer market” should point to nuclear as not only the cheapest form of energy, but when incorporating human health impacts it seems like a no brainer.
Silicon for solar photovoltaic cells will soon be a very hot commodity, not an extremely plentiful resource. Silicon prices are exponentially increasing. Fortunately technology with solar cells is really fast these days, but I wouldn’t count on it yet as a primary source. Plus mining for steel (for wind turbines) and silicon for solar cells poses a similar threat to mining uranium for nuclear. Still mine tailings, still landscape scars. The only difference is the low level of radioactivity in uranium mining – trained employees can mitigate most of the risk. An interesting report on wind energy these days has accidental death higher than expected. It’s a new industry and not everything gets reported, but interesting nonetheless. Comparing nuclear, there has not been one single injury to a nuclear plant worker in all its 104 power plants and 40 years of service in the United States!
With nuclear, environmental concerns often include issues related to transportation and waste. Transportation is a total non-issue from my research – zero incidents in North America, lots of regulation and protection built in. Waste seems to be a massive worry for people and I originally was worried as an undergrad. “Nuclear waste! grossssss!” Russia and deformed babies and my junk won’t work! Maybe think another time. Public health experts, world experts on radioactive risk and engineers all agree that a virtually impermeable box 660 metres below the ground below 200 metres of shale (where fluid travels less than 1mm/day) has this deep geologic repository safe for thousands of years. Read the Ontario Power Generation report on the deep geologic repository here. I understand how NIMBY plays a major role here, it would register in my brain too. Yucca Mountain Repository in the states is the clear example – billions of dollars, decade delay, and still no resolution. One thing is for sure, doing nothing is not an option.
