Bad news for Nuclear Proponents

It seems that nukes won't be our energy salvation, either.

A new study out of Australia points out a couple of salient facts: There's not that much Uranium available anymore, and gearing up for more power plants would just make the shortage worse. Building more plants and mining the uranium and processing it would generate - of course! - more greenhouse gases.

The researchers' basic assumption of declining uranium jibes with data from the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The agencies have put the total amount of known recoverable uranium reserves at around 3.5 million tons. That accounts for reasonably assured reserves and estimated additional reserves that can be mined at moderate costs.

At the current rate of usage -- around 67,000 tons per year -- those reserves will last for just over 50 years. And that's before any additional nuclear plants are built, reports Friends of the Earth, Australia in this analysis.

McCain is one of those proposing a whole new round of nukes - according to one estimate, even reaching a fraction of his goal, meeting 20% of US needs, would take $250 billion dollars. (And that's just to build the plants, without even addressing the issue of waste)

In contrast, SolveClimate quotes a new Department of Energy Report (PDF) that says we could get to 20% of US needs with wind power by 2030... and all for just $43 billion, the cost of four months of the Iraq war. That seems like a better deal...