Question Discuss why nuclear power producers must take currency fluctuations into account when procuring uranium from global suppliers
In many places, nuclear energy is competitive with fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation. Waste disposal and
decommissioning costs are usually fully included in the operating costs. If the social, health and environmental costs of
fossil fuels are also taken into account, the competitiveness of nuclear power is improved. Nuclear power plants produce
renewable, clean energy. They do not pollute the air or release greenhouse gases. They can be built in urban or rural areas,
and do not radically alter the environment around them. Uranium is the fuel most widely used to produce nuclear energy.
That's because uranium atoms split apart relatively easily. Uranium is also a very common element, found in rocks all over
the world. Although some of the uranium the United States uses is mined in this country, most is imported. The U.S. gets
uranium from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Once uranium is mined, it must be extracted from
other minerals. It must also be processed before it can be used. The overnight cost includes engineering, procurement and
construction (EPC) costs, owners' costs (land, cooling infrastructure, associated buildings, site works, switchyards, project
management and licenses. About 80% of the overnight cost relates to EPC costs, with about 70% of these consisting of
direct costs (physical plant equipment with labour and materials to assemble them) and 30% indirect costs (supervisory
engineering and support labour costs with some materials). The remaining 20% of the overnight cost is for contingencies
and owners’ costs.
Building nuclear reactors requires a high level of technology, and only the countries that have signed the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty can get the uranium or plutonium that is required. For these reasons, most nuclear power plants are
mostly located in the developed world. Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but relatively cheap to run. Because
nuclear fuel can be used to create nuclear weapons as well as nuclear reactors, only nations that are part of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are allowed to import uranium or plutonium, another nuclear fuel. The treaty promotes the
peaceful use of nuclear fuel, as well as limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. A typical nuclear reactor uses about 200
tons of uranium every year. However, the by-product of nuclear energy is radioactive material, radioactive material is a
collection of unstable atomic nuclei. Radioactive material can be extremely toxic, causing burns and increasing the risk for
cancers, blood diseases, and bone decay. Radioactive waste is what is left over from the operation of a nuclear reactor.
Radioactive waste is mostly protective clothing worn by workers, tools, and any other material that have been in contact
with radioactive dust. Radioactive waste is long-lasting. Materials like clothes and tools can stay radioactive for thousands
of years. The government regulates how these materials are disposed of so they don't contaminate anything else. Used fuel
and rods of nuclear poison are extremely radioactive.
Critics of nuclear energy worry that the storage facilities for radioactive waste will leak, crack, or erode. Radioactive material
could then contaminate the soil and groundwater near the facility. This could lead to serious health problems for the people
and organisms in the area. All communities would have to be evacuated. This is what happened in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in
1986. A steam explosion at one of the power plant's four nuclear reactors caused a fire, called a plume. This plume was
highly radioactive, creating a cloud of radioactive particles that fell to the ground, called fallout. The fallout spread over the
Chernobyl facility, as well as the surrounding area. The environmental impact of the Chernobyl disaster was immediate. For
kilometers, around the facility, the pine forest dried up and died. More than 100,000 people were relocated after the disaster,
but the number of human victims of Chernobyl is difficult to determine. The effects of radiation poisoning only appear after
many years. Cancers and other diseases can be very difficult to trace to a single source. From a government policy point of
view nuclear power plants are just as significant as the actual generation cost, but are seldom factored into comparisons ofdifferent supply options, especially comparing base-load with renewables such as solar and wind. In fact the total system
cost should be analysed when introducing new power generating capacity on the grid and any new power plant likely
requires changes to the grid.
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Discuss why nuclear power producers must take currency fluctuations into account when procuring uranium from global suppliers
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