Demand for uranium is surging as nuclear power use increases everywhere, according to an Associated Press article which appeared recently in the Salt Lake Tribune.
Western Colorado and eastern Utah, already a beehive of oil and gas exploration, are seeing a rush to find uranium to meet rising demand from nuclear reactors around the world, according to the article.
This year more than 8,500 mining-claim permits have been filed in eight uranium-rich Colorado and Utah counties. For years claim activity was virtually zero.
Only 100 million pounds have been produced annually, but the 435 nuclear reactors in the world, including 104 in the United States, need 180 million pounds. Demand will grow as China and India increase nuclear power, and President Bush pushes for the United States to expand its use.
"No doubt about it, the world needs more uranium," said Tom Pool, chairman of International Nuclear Inc. in Golden.
For the first time since 1974, the U.S. Department of Energy is preparing to put 13,600 acres of uranium-laced western Colorado lands up for bid next year. The Uravan Mineral Belt, a swatch of western Colorado desert that holds a unique combination of steel-hardening vanadium mixed with uranium, is a center of activity.
"I see this boom not being a spike like in the early '90s. And I see it being more sustained than it was in the '70s and '80s," said Ed Cotter, the contract project manager for uranium leasing for the Department of Energy.
Western Colorado and eastern Utah, already a beehive of oil and gas exploration, are seeing a rush to find uranium to meet rising demand from nuclear reactors around the world, according to the article.
This year more than 8,500 mining-claim permits have been filed in eight uranium-rich Colorado and Utah counties. For years claim activity was virtually zero.
Only 100 million pounds have been produced annually, but the 435 nuclear reactors in the world, including 104 in the United States, need 180 million pounds. Demand will grow as China and India increase nuclear power, and President Bush pushes for the United States to expand its use.
"No doubt about it, the world needs more uranium," said Tom Pool, chairman of International Nuclear Inc. in Golden.
For the first time since 1974, the U.S. Department of Energy is preparing to put 13,600 acres of uranium-laced western Colorado lands up for bid next year. The Uravan Mineral Belt, a swatch of western Colorado desert that holds a unique combination of steel-hardening vanadium mixed with uranium, is a center of activity.
"I see this boom not being a spike like in the early '90s. And I see it being more sustained than it was in the '70s and '80s," said Ed Cotter, the contract project manager for uranium leasing for the Department of Energy.
