Wired magazine reporter Jeff Rice reports on how a worldwide shortage of uranium has lead to a surge in mining claims in the western United States.
Would-be uranium miners are dusting off their Geiger counters, according to Rice. A worldwide shortage of uranium is pumping up prices and has led to a rush for mining claims in the western United States.
More than 15,000 new claims have been filed in uranium-rich states in the last year, up from just a few the year before.
"This year alone we've received about 6,000," said Pam Stilles at the Bureau of Land Management's office in Cheyenne, Wyoming. "It's happened overnight."
Wyoming, which has some of the biggest uranium deposits in the United States, hadn't seen more than 100 new mining claims over the last 10 years combined. But now claim offices are jumping across the region. Utah and Colorado, two big players in the market, have gone from virtually no new claims for years, according to the BLM, to a combined 8,500 and rising in uranium-rich counties in 2005.
The U.S. uranium industry was all but dead in early 2001 when the price of yellowcake tumbled to a low of $7.25 a pound . . . .
Conditions have changed dramatically over the past few years. Countries like China and India have begun renewed drives to build nuclear power plants. China expects to build 27 plants by 2020, and India is planning up to 24, according to the London-based World Nuclear Association.
Would-be uranium miners are dusting off their Geiger counters, according to Rice. A worldwide shortage of uranium is pumping up prices and has led to a rush for mining claims in the western United States.
More than 15,000 new claims have been filed in uranium-rich states in the last year, up from just a few the year before.
"This year alone we've received about 6,000," said Pam Stilles at the Bureau of Land Management's office in Cheyenne, Wyoming. "It's happened overnight."
Wyoming, which has some of the biggest uranium deposits in the United States, hadn't seen more than 100 new mining claims over the last 10 years combined. But now claim offices are jumping across the region. Utah and Colorado, two big players in the market, have gone from virtually no new claims for years, according to the BLM, to a combined 8,500 and rising in uranium-rich counties in 2005.
The U.S. uranium industry was all but dead in early 2001 when the price of yellowcake tumbled to a low of $7.25 a pound . . . .
Conditions have changed dramatically over the past few years. Countries like China and India have begun renewed drives to build nuclear power plants. China expects to build 27 plants by 2020, and India is planning up to 24, according to the London-based World Nuclear Association.
