why is geothermal energy so important?, page-6

whereru

The amount of Uranium available to be extracted is currently limited by

1. Political considerations which prohibit exploration e,g, NSW law or that make exploration unattractive e.g. by doubt over being able to mine, or sell the product. These considerations have led to a false low reserve of the metal. It is much more available than it seems.
2. Price - this is often tied to the cost of other fuel options such as oil and coal prices again leading to lack of exploration.

In the longer term the price considerations may be in terms of the energy output of the mined or extracted uranium.

When this becomes the consideration I believe that the cost of extraction of uranium from sea water may be of the order of 5% of the energy output of the extracted uranium.

This will make it attractive to any country with an ocean shore giving then access to a resource of massive size, greater than the total energy resources of all other sources exploited over human history.

Another canard that needs to be put to rest is the need to store massive quantities of nuclear waste. If it is properly handled the quantity is quite small and the risks are greatly overstated.

This is partly because the risk model is flawed.

Do a Google search "ramsar background radiation" and look at the papers there. They show that the health effects, in the city with background radiation higher than the area evacuated around the Chernobyl reactor disaster, are lower than areas with normal background radiation even though the area has been populated for many centuries. They in fact suggest that radiation may be protective to health rather than dangerous. I have yet to see anyone refute this evidence.

RB