If the US went to 80% nuclear fission for power how long would it last??

Question

If the US went to 80% nuclear fission energy how log would it last? I understand that we can have breeder reactors that extend the life of nuclear fuel by converting it to plutonium, but would we run out of fissionable material in 100 years? 1000? Can we make it last until we come up with a fusion reactor?

Answer 1

"Present reactors that use only the U-235 in natural uranium are very likely good for some hundreds of years. Bernard Cohen has shown that with breeder reactors, we can have plenty of energy for some billions of years."

Answer 2

I would guess we have enough material to last at least a thousand years. A nuclear reactor does not use all that much material in a given year. The ones found on aircraft carriers and submarines can go twenty to thirty years without resupply. We will run out of coal and oil well before we run out of fissionable material. Storage or disposal of waste is the major issue with nuclear power.

Answer 3

TECHNOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW: - nuclear produces base load, meaning the same quantity of electrical power on a continuous basis. Electric power has to be consumed when it is produced and can´t easily be stored. The ratio base load/peak load in a day is around 40%. Having 80% of nuclear power in the mix means that you have to have on the top of that a back-up generation which fast reacting: reservoir hydro power or gas turbines. Another option is like the french to export base load and import peak load. In this case, the figure of 80% IS NOT REALISTIC since it is artificial and does not reflect this balancing of the demand/supply through other countries. Another question: why build now nuclear power (a 50 years investment) if some renewable power generation (e.g. solar) will be at the same generation cost in 20 years? And what about energy efficiency? why not cut the demand for power by 50% at no cost? It´s not a DEM vs REPUBLICAN or French whatever question... it´s about GOOD MARKET/TECHNOLOGY KNOWLEDGE and RATIONAL CHOICES. It should not be let to the public but to specialists.

Answer 4

There is no shortage of uranium and other fissionable material. We could use this method indefinitely. But scientists have been saying that fusion power is "right around the corner" for quite some time, and they haven't really made much progress. Given the safety problems and the dificulty of dealing with the waste, we're probably better off investing in solar, wind, wave and other forms of renewable energy.

Answer 5

Pretty much forever. Much longer than I expect the human race to be around. The breeder reactor lets you use natural (or even depleted) uranium as input fuel, and there is plenty of that around. I'm sure we'll harness fusion long before we could use all the uranium. Then you have all the hydrogen (ie part of water) in the world to use.

Answer 6

With breeder reactors, several decades (but not for lack of fuel -- power plants get old, and would have to be shut down for 'other' safety reasons besides radiation reasons). 50 years, tops.

If we kept building new plants constantly, then a century is probably a reasonable time. Maybe by then we'll have developed fusion power.

Note, this answer is just my 'educated' opinion.
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Answer 7

We can run nuclear power plants for many hundreds of years with the supplies of radioactive metals in the earth today.

Answer 8

I imagine we have enough material for at least several thousand years.