[cdn-nucl-l] Energy from McArthur River U

["Rouben, Ben" <roubenb@aecl.ca>]

Morgan:
	Somehow my previous message got cutoff half-way!
	Here it is again:

	I agree with you that the number quoted by Cameco is rather low.
	The usual accepted equivalence is that 1 kg of U = 20,000 to 30,000
kg coal.
	So: 
	400 million lb U3O8 = 181 million kg U3O8 or 151 million kg U
	If we multiply this by the low equivalence number (20,000), we get
	151*10^6*20,000 =  3*10^12 kg coal = 3 billion tonnes coal
	[If we use the high equivalence number, we get 4.5 billion tonnes
coal]
	So the number quoted seems to be low by a factor of 1.5 to 2,
consistent with your calculation.
	


Benjamin Rouben, FCNS
Manager, Reactor Core Physics Branch
Tel: 905-823-9060 ext. 4550
Fax: 905-822-0567
E-mail: roubenb@aecl.ca
_______
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


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