Uses of Uranium
Nuclear Power
Due to poor building design, lack of regulation, and non
technical barriers to electricity conservation South Australia's consumption
of electricity is increasing. Increased electricity consumption is causing
increased pollution including greenhouse gas emissions.
Neither South Australia nor Australia as a whole uses
uranium for electricity generation. An attempt in the early 1980's to construct
a nuclear power station at Jervis Bay near Sydney was abandoned for economic
reasons. The details of this project are still being kept secret.
The mining of uranium and its processing into fuel for
a nuclear reactor is very energy intensive and leads to significant emissions
of both greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, as well as radiological
pollution of air, land and water.
Nuclear power stations are very costly, take a long time
to build, and take a long time to recover their investment.
To produce 1 kg of uranium fuel requires the production
of at least 10 kg of pure uranium which requires the mining of at least
20,000 kg of ore at Roxby Downs. Every
stage of this process pollutes the environment.
The waste product from nuclear power stations is millions of times more
radioactive than the uranium used to fuel it.
The greatest use of uranium for electricity is in countries
such as the USA, France, and the UK. All of these countries have
nuclear weapons.
Greater technical detail can be found on this topic by searching through
the listed briefing papers and education resources at
http://www.ccsa.asn.au/nic/.
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