PARIS, April 8. /TASS/. Existing uranium reserves may be depleted by 2080 if urgent measures are not taken to ramp up extraction and exploration of this element, according to a joint report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
According to the report, Russia, as of 2024, holds the sixth-largest uranium reserves in the world. The top position is held by Kazakhstan, followed by Canada, Namibia, Australia, and Uzbekistan. As of early 2023, the global explored and extractable uranium reserves amounted to approximately 8 mln tons, with significant potential remaining for the discovery of new deposits, the report said.
The OECD NEA and IAEA report highlights that more than 100 uranium deposits have been discovered in Russia since the mid-20th century. The largest reserves are located in the Streletskoye ore field in the Trans-Baikal region, the Vitim uranium ore district in Buryatia, the Elkon uranium ore district in Yakutia, and the Zauralsky uranium ore district (including the Dalmatovskoye, Kholokhovskoye, and Dobrovolnoye deposits in the Kurgan region).
Uranium is a radioactive chemical element used in nuclear energy. A small amount of uranium fuel, comparable in size to a chicken egg, can produce the same amount of electricity as 88 tons of coal. The isotope U-235 is used in energy production. To create enriched uranium, the concentration of this isotope is artificially increased.