China may surpass U.S. as uranium consumer by 2025

[FBaggins]

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China will surpass the U.S. as the world's largest consumer of uranium in the future, possibly by 2025, as demand from the nuclear industry grows, the state-run China Daily reported Tuesday, citing comments by a high-ranking energy official and an academic. Qian Zhimin, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, reportedly said on the sidelines of legislative meetings in Beijing, that China will likely overtake the U.S. in uranium consumption by 2030. Another estimate put the date at 2025, according to the report, which cited an estimate by the head of the School of Energy Research at Xiamen University. China has 11 nuclear reactors in use and 13 under construction, the report said. More than 60 reactors will be built by 2020, according to an estimate by the China Nuclear Energy Association in July, cited in the report

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-may-surpass-us-as-uranium-consumer-by-2025-2011-03-07?reflink=MW_news_stmp

[HopeHoops]

1. Consuming unranium gives you flatulence.

[Javaman]

2. Don't ever try lighting one...

Sorry, I had to go there. LOL

[HopeHoops]

3. Cigarette lighter crotch flares - always fun.

You know. Hold your legs together, run a line of butane down the seam, light it at the knees and open your legs - no fart required!

[jpak]

4. The US imports most of its uranium - this means higher uranium prices for all

So how does this help the nucular industry?

it doesn't

yup

[NickB79]

5. A doubling of uranium prices would have almost no impact on the nuclear industry

They use so much less fuel in comparison to any fossil-fuel power plant that fuel costs are a fairly small part of their overall operating budget.

[FBaggins]

7. Unlike oil, however, the US doesn't have to do that.

If imports became a problem (either from supply disruptions or price concerns), the US could just elect to mine more of it's own.

It isn't as if this stuff is rare.

IOW, does it "help" the industry? Nope... but it doesn't particularly hurt it either.

[NickB79]

6. This can't be true, because I have it on good authority that the nuclear industry is dead. NT