Uranium Depletion - Hubbert's Peak and Uranium

Hubbert's Peak and Uranium

The peak uranium concept follows from M. King Hubbert's peak theory, most commonly associated with peak oil. Hubbert saw oil as a resource which would soon run out, and believed uranium had much more promise as an energy source. Hubbert believed that breeder reactors and nuclear reprocessing, which were new technologies at the time, would allow uranium to be a power source for a very long time. The technologies Hubbert envisioned are not economically feasible or widely deployed to date. As a result, the vast majority of uranium is now used in a "once-through" cycle. As for any finite resource, the Hubbert peak theory still applies.

According to the Hubbert Peak Theory, Hubbert's peaks are the points where production of a resource, has reached its maximum, and from then on, the rate of resource production enters a terminal decline. After a Hubbert's peak, the rate of supply of a resource no longer fulfills the previous demand rate. As a result of the law of supply and demand, at this point the market shifts from a buyer's market to a seller's market.

Many countries are not able to supply their own uranium demands any longer and must import uranium from other countries. Thirteen countries have hit peak and exhausted their uranium resources.