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RE: [cdn-nucl-l] RE: MCARTHUR RIVER URANIUM DEPOSIT
Rule-of-thumb: Complete fissioning of 1 g of actinides liberates ~1
MWth-day of energy.
400 million pounds of U3O8 = 340 million pounds of uranium = 1.54E11 grams
of uranium, which is 1.54E11 MWth-days = 4.22E8 MWth-years.
If a 1000 MWe plant is 3000 MWth, then 4.22E8 MWth-years = 140,000
plant-years of fast breeders.
A once-through LWR cycle uses about 0.5% of the energy in the mined
uranium, yielding 700 plant-years.
Conclusion: The news report refers to a once-through cycle. Fast breeders
would do 200 times better.
George Stanford
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 09:53 AM 4/24/2001 -0400, Brown, Morgan wrote:
>The total reserves from the McArthur River deposit are "more than 400
>million lbs of U3O8", or 181,400 tonnes U3O8, which is equal to 154,000
>tonnes U.
>
>According to "Uranium in Canada 1991", 1 tonne U used in a CANDU is equal
>to 0.691x10^15 J "in a once-through fuel cycle" (I checked this - it's
>equal to 8000 MWd/tU, which is about right for a CANDU). It says that 1
>tonne U is equal to only 0.45x10^15 J in a typical PWR cycle - I presume
>they are including the cost of enrichment and that one needs more raw ore.
>
>Thus 154,000 t U = 1.0641 x 10^20 J.
>
>1 MTOE (mega tonne oil equivalent) = 42 x 10^15 J (from "Uranium in Canada
>1991"). Thus 154,000 tU = 2,534 MTOE
>
>1 MTOE = 7.58x10^6 barrels of oil (from "Uranium in Canada 1991"). Thus
>154,000 t U = 19.2 billion barrels of oil - this is more than double the
>number quoted by Cameco. Any comments?
>
>- Morgan Brown
>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: Franta, Jaroslav [mailto:frantaj@aecl.ca]
>Sent: Tuesday April 24, 2001 7:37 AM
>To: ans-pie; cdn-nucl-l
>Subject: [cdn-nucl-l] RE: MCARTHUR RIVER URANIUM DEPOSIT
>The energy from that uranium is equivalent to more than two billion tonnes
>of coal or eight billion barrels of oil.
> By way of perspective, eight billion barrels of oil is the approximate
> annual oil consumption of the United States, and about one half the oil
> available in the northern Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
> Cameco Corporation<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
> "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
> <><><><><><><><><><>
>QUESTION : anyone have a quick answer on whether this energy equivalence
>is based on a once-through cycle or some sort of recycling/fissile
>breeding scheme ?
>Curious too, how so much heavy metal has ended up on the surface of the
>earth, instead of sinking to the core..... wonder how much might have
>ended up "down there"
>Thanks,
>Jaro