Nuclear power

Nov 18, 2008 Editorial

Yesterday, we reported on the fading hopes that the three passengers in the Beech King aircraft, which disappeared in the Cuyuni/Mazaruni area at the beginning of this month, would still be alive.

It was the reporting of this tragedy that brought to light the fact that a Canadian company had been conducting intensive surveys for uranium in our country for almost three years.

Uranium, of course, is the primary base fuel for nuclear reactors, which, in an era of diminishing fossil fuels, is being looked at once again as a credible source of electricity for industries across the globe.

As of this month, there are 439 nuclear power plant units in 31 countries, with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 gigawatts in operation, and a further 38 plants, with an installed capacity of 32.6 gigawatts in 14 countries under construction.

The US has not constructed a new nuclear plant since the 1970s, yet its 104 plants deliver some twenty percent of its power needs.

A number of near catastrophic (Three-Mile Island, USA, 1979) and catastrophic (Chernobyl, USSR, 1986) publicised the downside risks of the supposedly “inexhaustible” new source of energy for the world.

Then there was the omnipresent question of how to dispose of the waste from the utilisation of the uranium, which was potently radioactive and would persist for thousands of years.

But a combination of improved engineering technologies, which have significantly bolstered the safety of nuclear plants, and the inexorable dwindling of fossil fuel reserves have worked together to force world leaders to look at nuclear power much more favourably.

In the last US elections, the Republican candidate, John McCain, proposed to construct 45 new nuclear plants if he were elected. He pointed to India, China, Russia and Europe’s embrace of nuclear power as a component of their energy policy. While the Democrats are somewhat more sceptical, President Obama was forced to address Mc Cain’s logic and to accept that “nuclear power must play a role in the US’ plans on energy”.

Last week, China announced that it will build nine new nuclear plants in the next two years, in addition to the two currently under construction, but it is in India where the most intense activity is expected.

Russia is already building two plants in that country, and the private sector has projected that another 18 to 20 new nuclear power plants are likely to be set up over the next 15 years.

India, however, does not have significant reserves of uranium ores (nor, for that matter, does China) so the question of fuel supply was always crucial.

Its explosion of atomic devices in 1994 led to an embargo by the US, but the changing geo-political realities forced the Bush Administration to sign an agreement in 2005 that would clear the way for supplies and technology imports. This agreement was only ratified by India last month.

While the present identified world reserves can supply the existing operational nuclear plants, the burst of new construction will push demand for uranium sky high.

Whether by coincidence or not, it was in 2005 that an individual from Canada perused, in our Geology and Mines archives, some old uranium exploration data that had been collected in 1979.

The data, following up on work that had been done in the sixties, showed conclusively that uranium ores were present in significant quantities in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni area.

A Canadian company, U308, was established, funds were raised, and a wholly owned subsidiary, Prometheus Resources (Guyana) Inc, obtained two Reconnaissance Permits in 2006 from “the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to conduct geological and geophysical surveys on adjacent lands covering an area of approximately 1.33 million hectares in Western Guyana.”

We offer our prayers and hopes that the missing men will be found alive. We also hope that the Government works with U308 (and other interested parties, since U308’s permits will be expiring in a year’s time) to deliver the best deal for the exploitation of our uranium reserves.

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