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On Uranium

Uranium is a naturally occurring, very heavy metal.  One of the heaviest elements on the periodic table, it holds the symbol “U.” Natural uranium (U3O8) occurs in the earth’s crust as commonly as tin or zinc. The sandy, yellowish substance called yellowcake, the commodity uranium-mining companies produce, is the form natural uranium takes when extracted from ore.

Yellowcake, the commodity uranium-mining companies produce

Natural uranium is nearly everywhere. It is present in most rock and in seawater, and very small concentrations of it may be found in food and human tissues.  A square mile of earth, about 1 foot deep, typically contains about two tons of uranium. Concentrations large enough to be of economic interest at prevailing uranium prices, however, occur only in hard rock and sandstone. You may read more about the world’s uranium reserves here.

It is advisable to take the same safety precautions with yellowcake which one would take with lead.   Like many cleaning fluids commonly kept beneath kitchen sinks, it is harmful only if ingested.  Yellowcake neither burns nor blows up, which makes it useless in the hands of terrorists and far safer to transport than common fuels like gas and propane. Yellowcake, or natural uranium, has very little radioactivity; it only emits alpha particles, a form of radiation which penetrates neither human skin nor clothing. The daughter products of natural uranium—radium, thorium, and radon gas; which occur alongside uranium in nature—produce 85% of the radiation generally associated with uranium, but these products are removed during the mining and milling process and are therefore absent from yellowcake.

The production of yellowcake is but the first of many stages in the nuclear fuel cycle, the process of turning uranium ore into electricity for America’s vast nuclear defense fleet and 104 reactors.  Without fuel made from yellowcake, there is no nuclear power.
Uranium is used primarily to generate electricity in nuclear reactors, and uranium is a significant fuel source for Virginia and for the whole nation. Dominion Power’s four reactors in Virginia—two at North Anna and two at Surry—produce nearly forty percent of Virginia’s electricity, and the reactors consume roughly 1.6 million pounds of uranium per year. In 2010, nuclear power was the largest source of electricity in the Commonwealth. On the national level, 20 percent of U.S. electricity is generated by 104 nuclear reactors, and it takes about 55 million pounds of uranium to fuel those reactors each year.

Although nearly all of the uranium produced the world over is used to generate electricity in nuclear reactors, other uses of uranium are worth noting. Throughout the 1800s, uranium gave vases and other household items fashioned of glass a green-yellow hue. It has, of course, been processed for nuclear weapons.  Presently, however, it is more commonly used for ship anchors and military vehicle armor because of its extremely high density. Another prominent modern use for uranium is nuclear medicine; it is fissioned in reactors to produce radioactive isotopes, which are then used to develop diagnostic images, as well as to treat thyroid cancer and blood disorders.

Turning Rocks Into Light: The Nuclear Fuel Cycle

The nuclear fuel cycle is the process of turning uranium ore—hard rock or sandstone containing significant quantities of uranium—into electricity and re-processing or disposing of the leftover materials. The process is a lengthy and labor-intensive one requiring many steps.

Mining:

The primary step, of course, is extracting natural uranium from the rock in which it occurs.  There are three established methods for doing so: open-pit mining, underground mining, and in-situ leaching. In-situ leaching is only a viable option for porous rock types, like sandstone.  It entails pumping a leaching liquid underground through uranium-bearing rock to dissolve the uranium; the uranium-bearing solution is then pumped back above ground and processed.  In an open-pit or underground mine, the ore is blasted out and handled with heavy equipment.

Milling:

The ore is then transported to a mill, typically located close by the mining site, for further processing. It is in the mill that uranium is chemically removed from the rock bearing it.

Uranium in rock may be compared to sugar in a cookie.  It is easy to detect sugar in a cookie; just taste the cookie.  It is likewise easy to detect uranium in rock; one may measure the radiation associated with uranium and analyze the rock in a lab.  However, just as it is hard to extract sugar from a cookie, it is hard to separate uranium from the rock through which it is dispersed.  It cannot, like coal or silver, be chipped away from the rock which surrounds it; it must be chemically separated.  The chemical separation, which occurs in the mill, entails crushing up the ore, adding water to it, pressurizing it, heating it up, and altering its pH.  This process forces the uranium into a solution, from which the uranium is then precipitated.  The natural uranium, or yellowcake, is dried and shipped in 55-gallon steel drums to other processing facilities. The tailings, the crushed rock left over after the uranium has been removed, are disposed of on site.

Conversion, Enrichment, and Fuel Fabrication:

In the form of yellowcake, natural uranium goes through three additional processing steps before it is ready to be inserted into a nuclear reactor: conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication. First, it must be converted to uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which is crystalline at room temperature but a gas at high heat.  The only plant which conducts this process in the U.S. is located in Metropolis, Illinois. Second, the uranium undergoes enrichment, the process during which the percentage of the isotope U-235 is increased.  In the U.S., this takes place at Paducah, Kentucky, and Eunice, New Mexico.  Third, fuel fabrication, during which the uranium is formed into fuel pellets to be inserted into the reactor, occurs at a number of American facilities.  Babcock & Wilcox in Lynchburg, Virginia, for example, currently fabricates fuel for the reactors powering the U.S. Navy’s submarines and aircraft carriers. Areva, also located in Lynchburg, has conducted fuel fabrication.

Through the Nuclear Reactor:

After fuel fabrication, the uranium is ready for a nuclear reactor.  Virginia has four nuclear reactors at North Anna and Surry. A fingertip-sized fuel pellet of commercial grade will produce the same amount of energy as 149 gallons of oil or a ton of coal.

The spent (used) fuel, which is extremely hot once removed from the reactor, is cooled down at the reactor site and then stored. After uranium has been fissioned in a reactor, it may be re-processed so the residual uranium remaining in the fuel can be recovered.  There are currently no facilities re-processing spent fuel in the U.S.

The volume of waste is very small; all of the spent fuel in the U.S. could fit in a pit 30 feet deep and as wide and long as a football field.

To read more about the nuclear fuel cycle, visit the websites of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Cameco. Also, explore the links to other information sources in our Reference Library.

Tailings Facilities

After uranium is mined and milled, the tailings—the crushed-up rock which formerly contained uranium—is typically disposed of at the mining and milling site.

In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the federal agency regulating all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle except uranium mining, regulates all aspects of tailings management and disposal. The various aspects include the following: siting and design of tailings impoundments, disposal of tailings or wastes, decommissioning of land and structures, groundwater protection standards, testing of the radon emission rate from the impoundment cover, monitoring programs, airborne effluent and offsite exposure limits, inspection of retention systems, financial surety requirements for decommissioning, and long-term surveillance and control of the tailings impoundment.

The NRC specifies the general design requirements for long-term tailings-storage facilities, and the NRC’s regulations are written so as to take account of the particularities of each mining and milling site. The design configuration preferred by the NRC is as follows: “The ‘prime option’ for disposal of tailings is placement below grade, either in mines or specially excavated pits (that is, where the need for any specially constructed retention structure is eliminated).  The evaluation of alternative sites and disposal methods performed by mill operators in support of their proposed tailings disposal program (provided in applicants' environmental reports) must reflect serious consideration of this disposal mode…[In exceptional] cases, it must be demonstrated that an above grade disposal program will provide reasonably equivalent isolation of the tailings from natural erosional forces.” Tailings facilities must be engineered to be effective for 1,000 years. All facilities must also include a multi-layer water-balance cap designed to limit infiltration and control runoff of precipitation, liners to prevent releases into groundwater, and monitoring systems to detect changes from background conditions.

The NRC protection standard also requires prospective licensees (companies proposing to mine uranium and dispose of tailings) to demonstrate that tailings storage facilities are capable of withstanding severe weather and seismic events. Facilities must be located above the Probable Maximum Flood plain and designed to withstand hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. Water levels in the tailing cells must be monitored continuously, and any abrupt change in water level due to a containment breach must trigger an alarm to activate the appropriate response by operations staff. After closure, a cover system designed to withstand erosional forces produced by any severe weather events must protect the tailings; tailings cells must be located above plains where flooding is at all likely to occur. 

After fulfilling the reclamation requirements contained in the NRC regulations and obtaining the NRC’s approval for its reclamation job, a mining company transfers ownership of the tailings disposal cells to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  Thereafter, the DOE sees to the long-term care and maintenance of the tailings facilities.

Tailings impoundment at JEB mill in northern Saskatchewan. Tailings go into the former open pit and are kept under several feet of water.  Take note of these important characteristics of the design, characteristics which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission would require for a tailings impoundment in the U.S.: 1) keeping the tailings wet as a heavy liquid slurry and keeping them under water as they are stored eliminates the dispersion of any dust from the tailings 2) keeping water over the tailings traps radon gas, which cannot be released from the tailings into the environment 3) Even in the event of a hurricane or flood, this facility would keep the tailings isolated from groundwater. The facility can accommodate several feet of excess water, far more water than it would receive in a “Probable Maximum Flood” event—or the greatest precipitation event at all likely to occur where the facility is located.

After Mining: Reclamation And Financial Assurances

Under modern state and federal regulations, uranium-mining companies are required to pay up front for any environmental reclamation necessary throughout the entire life of the operation, from the first strike of the shovel into the ground to the burial of the mill. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) regulations state, “Financial surety arrangements must be established by each mill operator prior to the commencement of operations to assure that sufficient funds will be available to carry out the decontamination and decommissioning of the mill and site and reclamation of any tailings or waste disposal sites.” For example, the Pinion Ridge Mill in Colorado is required to post $11 million in bonds, and Homestake Grants in New Mexico is required to post $33 million.

The surety bonds must cover the cost of reclamation and the complete decommissioning of the mine and mill. Reclamation includes any necessary remediation of the site, such as the re-shaping of a site’s contours after open-pit mining and re-vegetating disturbed land. Decommissioning entails closure of the mine, dismantling and disposal of the mill, and long-term monitoring of the site.

It is the operating company’s responsibility to mitigate any problems, such as contamination of ground water, shown to be a direct consequence of its activities. Surety bonds may be used to address any such problems.

The NRC and the state agency designated to regulate a particular operation (in Virginia, it would be the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy) review the amount of surety bonds required to be posted annually.  They modify the monetary demands placed on mining companies according to any changing conditions.

Once site reclamation is completed, the NRC verifies that the tailings management facilities are adequate for long-term disposal.  The land title for the tailings management areas is then transferred to the Department of Energy (DOE), which oversees the long-term care and maintenance of tailings facilities. DOE monitoring activities are site specific, but the minimal activities include an annual site inspection by DOE staff.  They may include more frequent soil, air, and groundwater sampling.

Health & Safety

Some of the common concerns members of the public have about uranium-mining operations pertain to radiation exposure, the protection of water quality, the suppression of dust, and ensuring worker safety.  You may find information on how these concerns are managed below.

Radiation:

Radiation is a natural part of everyday life and a form of energy with which we constantly come into contact.  The Health Physics Society explains that “Radiation is energy that comes from a source and travels through space and may be able to penetrate various materials.” The human body is slightly radioactive, and we receive radiation exposure from the earth, the sun’s rays, and even bananas and potatoes.  Limiting the amount of time one comes into contact with radioactive material, keeping a distance from radioactive material, and placing a shield (of concrete or lead) between the material and oneself are established means of limiting exposure.

In Canada and the United States, the radiation exposure of workers in mines and mills is constantly monitored. U.S. regulations require each worker to wear personal dosimetry providing a reading of the worker’s dose.  Technological advances in personal dosimitry allow for real time digital dose readings, whereas older technology only enabled monthly dose readings.  In addition, mines and mills are equipped with radiation detectors that allow site personnel to continuously monitor real-time radiation levels at various locations on site.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) monitor radiation exposure to members of the public at uranium processing operations.  Virginia runs a radiological protection program through the Virginia Department of Health. The EPA maximum allowable limit for radiation from all sources – drinking water, air, food, etc. – surrounding a uranium mining and milling operation is 25 millirem, just a fraction of the 320 millirem the average person in the U.S. receives as background radiation from the sun, the earth, and food annually. The following are doses from common radiation exposures: airplane travel--0.5 millirem per hour, hip x-rays--80 millirem, CT scans--200 – 1,000 millirem.

Although some opponents of uranium mining claim that radiation from uranium mining operations puts the public at risk for increased rates of cancer, scientific studies have confirmed that it has not resulted in higher rates of cancer for members of the general public living in the vicinity of mines. Dr. John D. Boice, Jr., a professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine and Science Director for the International Epidemiological Institute, has conducted extensive public health studies of populations surrounding uranium mining and milling operations in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. In four separate studies using data spanning 50 years, Dr. Boice examined the public health records of thousands of residents living in close proximity to uranium mining and milling operations. In all four studies, Dr. Boice found no difference in rates of cancer and cancer mortality in those communities compared to communities in other parts of the states.

In this Op/ed, Steve Brown, a health physicist and consultant for SENES Consulting, discusses radiation exposures from uranium ore in plain language.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal agency regulating all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle in Canada, maintains a centralized database of Canadian uranium workers’ exposures here.  For several years, the average exposures have not approached the regulatory limits.  You may view the reports online here.

Air Quality: Dust And Radon Gas

Just like human beings have figured out how to protect themselves from radon exposure in residential basements, the industry has figured out how to manage radon exposure at mining operations.  Just as good ventilation keeps radon levels in basements low, good ventilation in a mine ensures that workers are not exposed to large quantities of radon gas, which is associated with natural uranium. In addition, radon gas is seven times heavier than air, which usually prevents the gas from rising more than a few feet above the ground or traveling distances greater than a few hundred feet. Radon gas also has an extremely short half-life of just 3.7 days, which means most of its radioactivity dissipates in a matter of days.

Any activities that could create dust at mining operations are done under wet conditions to prevent dust dispersion.  Water is used to control dust during blasting and drilling, and the crushed-up ore is kept wet during processing in the mill.  Keeping the tailings wet as a heavy liquid slurry impedes any dispersion of them.

Several federal laws and regulatory agencies ensure that dust is controlled and appropriately mitigated during mining operations. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Acts of 1969 and 1977 and the Clean Air Acts of 1970, 1977 and 1990 govern air quality in mining operations. Furthermore, the NRC’s regulatory guidelines 8.30 and 8.31 set standards for controlling dust. 

Water Usage And Protecting Water Quality

The mining industry has established methods of conserving water by reusing and recycling it in  milling operations. A mill-process water system can utilize rain water, site run-off collection, mine dewatering and recycled water from the tailings system as sources of water for mining and milling operations. Maximizing the amount of water recycled helps to minimize the amount of chemicals necessary for milling operations.  Once the proper levels of water are achieved, any excess water can be treated and safely released back into the ground. 

Various measures protect water quality at uranium-mining operations in the U.S. First, it is standard practice to construct modern waste-water treatment systems comparable to municipal systems at uranium-mining sites.  Using modern techniques, these plants can remove contaminants, treating all wastewater and run-off water collected from run-off ponds. Water is brought up to EPA standards before being recycled or released on site. Barriers engineered of rock and clay impermeable to water, multiple liners, and advanced leak detection systems monitored in real time keep the tailings isolated from groundwater sources and provide in-depth defense against excursions of contaminants from operating sites. Controls of contaminants and routine monitoring of Points of Compliance around a project area provide multiple safeguards against release of contaminants from the site, leaving ample time to implement corrective actions if contaminant levels should rise above Maximum Concentration Limits set by regulatory agencies.

Routine monitoring of water quality is required by state and federal regulations. Before mine and mill development, environmental monitoring stations must be set up in proposed site areas to measure baseline levels of constituents of concern (including contaminants) in the air, groundwater, surface water, and soil.  During mill operations, sampling and measurements are conducted at most of these stations as well as other locations in the immediate vicinity of the mine and mill and at downstream locations as required by the NRC license conditions. The data is maintained in real time on a GIS system and reported to the appropriate agencies.  Sampling and testing occur at least quarterly until the data patterns justify a different frequency, as approved by the regulatory agencies. 

It is standard practice for the operating company, independent laboratories and government agencies to conduct water testing. In addition, many companies invite environmental groups to conduct their own testing at the company’s expense.

Under NRC regulations set out in 10 CFR 40 Appendix A and other federal rules, the operating company is responsible for any remediation or replacement of contaminated wells.

If a company goes out of business and is unable to continue its monitoring role, the reclamation surety bonds required by the NRC in 10 CFR 40 Criterion 9 will be used to complete reclamation and continue environmental monitoring under the supervision of the Department of Energy.

Worker Safety

Mining safety has improved dramatically since the birth of the uranium mining industry in the 1940s, and the statistics on the industry show it.  The National Mining Association reports that, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, miners suffer fewer non-fatal occupational injuries than any other cohort of workers from a major industry, except for workers conducting financial activities. Professions with a higher injury incident rate include Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing; Education & Health Services; Manufacturing; Construction; and Leisure & Hospitality. Moreover, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal agency regulating uranium mines and mills in Canada, touts studies showing that uranium miners and the populations living near mining operations are as healthy as the general public.

The safety and health of miners is closely regulated by federal and state laws. All workers are required to wear personal dosimeters to measure radiation exposure, which must be reported to the NRC and must not exceed limits set by the NRC. Keeping certain parts of the mining and milling operation wet controls the dust exposure workers receive. Ventilation systems disperse radon gas emitted from the ore bodies in underground mines.

Regulation and Environmental Monitoring

Routine monitoring of water, air, and soil quality is required by state and federal regulations. Before mine and mill development, environmental monitoring stations must be set up in proposed site areas to measure baseline levels of constituents of concern (including contaminants) in the air, groundwater, surface water, and soil.  During mill operations, sampling and measurements are conducted at most of these stations as well as other locations in the immediate vicinity of the mine and mill and at downstream locations as required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license conditions. The data is maintained in real time on a GIS system and reported to the appropriate agencies.  Sampling and testing occur at least quarterly until the data patterns justify a different frequency. The responsible state and federal agencies determine the frequency of sampling and testing. 

Multiple federal and state agencies regulate uranium-mining and –milling operations in the U.S. The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy (DMME) would regulate the mining of uranium ore in Virginia, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates the milling of ore and the disposal of tailings in a number of states.  The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Virginia Department of Health, the NRC and the DMME would various aspects of worker safety.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the NRC oversee the protection of water quality at such operations already, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the DMME would also monitor water quality at uranium-mining operations if they existed in Virginia. The EPA and the NRC regulate air quality by ensuring the control of radon and dust emissions; the DMME and DEQ would also regulate air quality at uranium-mining operations in Virginia.

The Uranium Market & U.S. Uranium Sources

Uranium: Global Demand Growing, Shortages Possible

The lion’s share of uranium is traded under long-term contracts between uranium producers and utilities companies. The rest is sold on the spot market. The primary driver of the demand for uranium is the capacity of nuclear reactors used to generate electricity. 

Industry experts project that, given the number of new reactors planned and the world-wide growing demand for electricity, the demand for uranium will grow significantly over the next decade.  Only freshly-mined uranium may satisfy the growing demand.

The current annual global consumption is 190 million pounds, while annual global mine production is 140 million pounds, resulting in a 50-million pound deficit. Inventory draw downs and the down-blending of weapons-grade material currently make up the difference. Industry experts, however, project that the supply of these secondary sources will decrease by 50% over the next decade, while global demand for uranium will increase, widening the supply-demand gap.  Only primary sources of uranium—i.e., the supply produced from mines—can make up the coming shortfall, because the stockpiles will be gone.  The World Nuclear Association predicts that by 2020, mined production will account for 90% of global uranium supply, compared to 75% today. For more information, see this Forbes article.

There are 439 operating nuclear power plants in the world, and 62 new plants are currently under construction. In the next two decades, China, India, Russia, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia will dramatically expand their use of nuclear energy, causing fierce competition for mined uranium. According to the World Nuclear Association, 139 new plants are in the planning stage and 326 new plants are in the proposal stage. China will build 50 new reactors by 2030 (500% increase), and India will build 35 (150% increase). By 2020, China alone will consume the equivalent of one-third of today’s global uranium market. China and Russia have already begun aggressively buying up huge stakes in uranium mining operations around the world in order to stockpile uranium to meet their rising domestic demand.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing applications for 31 new reactors in the U.S, roughly equivalent to one-third of the current U.S. fleet. Nine of those reactors are already in the planning stage, and three are in the construction or pre-construction stages. Most of these reactors are expected to come online between 2020 and 2030. By the end of 2011, $18 billion in nuclear loan guarantees will have been awarded to three proposed reactors. The Obama administration is seeking an additional $36 billion in guarantees to accelerate development of as many as five more reactors.

The U.S. Department of Energy projects that U.S. electricity demand will rise 24 percent by 2035. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, even with conservation and efficiency measures, the U.S. will need hundreds of new power plants from a diverse portfolio of fuel sources to supply electricity to maintain high living standards and promote domestic economic growth. Maintaining nuclear energy’s current 20 percent share of generation would require building about one reactor per year starting in 2016, or 20 to 25 new units by 2035. 

After the incident at Fukushima in spring 2011, the global enthusiasm for nuclear power diminished somewhat. However, according to NuCap Ltd., a London-based industry consultancy, the annual consumption of uranium will increase to 265 million pounds in 2020 versus their pre-Fukushima projection of 320 million pounds per year. Thus, even after the Japan incident, the supply-demand gap is expected to widen significantly.

There is an almost inexhaustible undeveloped supply of uranium existing the world over, but there is a limited supply of uranium that can be extracted at a reasonable cost. For instance, uranium could be extracted from seawater at approximately $250-$300 per pound.  In comparison, some of the new mines in Africa are expected to have a production cost of $45 to $50 per pound, and some mines can produce uranium for as little as $12 per pound. 

Typically the lead time for bringing a new uranium mine on line is about ten years. It is conceivable that major shortages could occur in the short term, despite there being ample amounts of uranium in the earth’s crust. In other words, a major supply disruption won’t be corrected quickly because it takes years to finance and build a uranium mining and milling facility.

The United States’ Uranium Supply and Energy Independence:

Generating 20 percent of the U.S.’s electricity, the U.S.’s 104 reactors consume 55 million pounds of uranium each year, a full 25 percent of the global supply.  However, the U.S. produces less than 5 percent of the global supply and imports over 90 percent of the uranium it uses.
The U.S. supply comes from various foreign countries, which may be seen in the chart below.

Global Uranium Sources

Under the megatons-to-megawatts agreement, the U.S.’s uranium purchases from Russia have consisted entirely of uranium recycled from decommissioned Soviet warheads. This agreement did serve U.S. national security interests for nuclear non-proliferation. However, that agreement expires in 2013, at which time U.S. utilities will purchase Russian uranium from the country’s state-run nuclear company, Rosatom, and its affiliates. This uranium will be sourced from mines, not decommissioned warheads, and will therefore cease to serve any national security interest.

Reliance on the Russian state-run nuclear company for U.S. nuclear fuel supply poses serious challenges in terms of U.S. energy security. For instance, in the winter of 2008-09, the Russian state-run natural gas company, Gazprom, suddenly cut off all natural gas exports to Eastern Europe for more than a month, leaving millions of homes without heat or electricity in the middle of one of the harshest winters in recent history.

The 1970s OPEC oil embargo is another cautionary example of the inherent risks associated with overreliance on energy imports from foreign state-run energy companies.

The potential dangers of overreliance on foreign supplies in an increasingly competitive global market are also highlighted by China’s possession of the global supply of rare earth metals. China has spent the past few decades seeking to monopolize control of these vital materials and now controls 97 percent of the world’s supply. Embargoes of these metals to Japan and Western countries in late 2010 caused severe disruptions in several major industries, including the manufacturing of solar technologies and most high-tech electronic devices.

Given the growing demand for electricity and the number of new reactor builds planned, it is likely that the markets for uranium will only grow fiercer, placing the U.S. in a precarious position indeed if it does not develop domestic uranium deposits.