Why is nuclear fission considered nonrenewable energy?
1 Answer
Apr 3, 2014
Nuclear fission is considered to be nonrenewable energy because it involves uranium, a non-renewable resource, being mined and extracted from its ore.
We will run out of it just as we will run out of coal, gas and oil.
Uranium-235, the primary fuel for nuclear power, has an abundance of 0.7% percent in the Earth.
An enrichment of 4% to 5% is required in order to achieve an effective fission reaction, and the half-life of uranium-235 is about 70 million years.
As a result, it is unlikely that we will run out of uranium-235 in the near, mid, or distant future.
Plutonium-239, an effective alternate source of nuclear power, which can be formed from uranium-238, has a half-life of about 24,000 years.
