EIA generally opines that uranium is the fuel most widely used by nuclear power plants for nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, energy is released when atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms. Plants use a certain type of uranium, U-235, to generate heat because its atoms are easily split apart in the fission process. Although uranium (mostly U-238) is about 100 times more common than silver in nature, the U-235 component occurs in low concentrations and must be up-graded by processing. Mined uranium ore typically yields one to four pounds of uranium concentrate (U3O8 (yellowcake) per ton, or 0.05% to 0.20% U3O8. Uranium is a common metal, but it must be mined (by in-stu or by open-pit methods (for shallow deposits) or underground mining methods (for deep deposits), processed into yellowcake (a low grade, low radioactivity product) and then further processed in multiple stages to produce fuel pellets that are loaded into assemblies and inserted into nuclear reactors to create heat. Nuclear power plants use the heat from nuclear fission to boil water to run turbines that produce electricity.
Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors (civilian owner/operators) purchased a total of 50.6 million pounds U3O8e (equivalent) of deliveries from U.S. suppliers and foreign suppliers during 2016, at a weighted-average price of $42.43 per pound U3O8e. The 2016 total of 50.6 million pounds U3O8e was 10% lower than the 2015 total of 56.5 million pounds U3O8e. The 2016 weighted-average price of $42.43 per pound U3O8e was 4% lower than the 2015 weighted-average price of $44.13 per pound U3O8e.
Original working URL: https://www.eia.gov/nuclear/
Eleven percent of the 50.6 million pounds U3O8e delivered in 2016 was U.S.-origin uranium at a weighted-average price of $43.92 per pound.
Foreign-origin uranium accounted for the remaining 89% (45 million pounds yellowcake) of deliveries at a weighted-average price of $42.26 per pound.
Sources and shares of purchases of uranium produced in U.S. and foreign countries in 2016:
- US Origin: 11%
- Foreign: 89%
- Canada: 25%
- Kazakhstan: 24%
- Australia: 22%
- Russia: 14%
- Uzbekistan: 4%
- Malawi+Namibia+Niger+and+South Africa: 9%
- Brazil+ Bulgaria+China+Czech Republic+Germany, and Ukraine: 2%
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