Was wondering about how long nuclear power would be sustainable for. Could we run out of the elements required?
Is there a time line if we shift to all nuclear.
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By rough estimation, using economically accessible uranium (because mining uranium from the ocean floor or from asteroids is *not* currently feasible) many nuclear scientists say we could run on nuclear energy for about 200 years at current consumption rates. This is assuming a complete cessation of fossil fuels, and it also does not include renewables like solar/wind/hydro/geothermal energy. This also does not account for any new developments in nuclear energy nor does it account for increasing energy demand.
In short, it’s extremely difficult to “calculate” how long nuclear energy would last us, given how many variables are unknown. Right now, the two greatest limitations to nuclear energy are that extracting uranium from ore is *very* expensive compared to harvesting oil and natural gas, and we also are in the infancy stage of nuclear development. We don’t even have fission reactors figured out yet, which are orders of magnitude more efficient than fusion reactors. It is the difference between steam engines powered by coal and combustion engines powered by refined gasoline. Leagues apart in efficiency and scientific sophistication.
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