In 2000-01 Australia exported 9,722 tonnes of uranium ore
concentrates (U3O8 or U3O8
equivalent, amounting to 8,244 tonnes contained uranium). This quantity of uranium is sufficient for
the annual fuel requirements of some 41 reactors (each of 1000 MWe), producing
around 305 billion kilowatt hours (i.e. 305 terawatt hoursTWh) of electricityone
and a half times Australias own electricity production, which in 2000 totalled
about 200 TWh.
Australia holds over a quarter of
the worlds uranium resources recoverable at less than $US80/kg. In 2000 the Olympic Dam and Ranger mines were
respectively the worlds second and third largest uranium producers, and
overall Australia was the worlds second largest uranium exporter.
While Australia recognises the
importance of this substantial uranium holding as a source of energy for other
countries not as well endowed with natural resources, strong support for the
nuclear non-proliferation regime has always been a paramount consideration.
Australia exports uranium only to
countries within its network of bilateral safeguards agreementsdetails of
these agreements and the conditions under which Australia exports uranium are
given in the following pages.
Australia
has 15 bilateral agreements covering 25 countries. These agreements are listed in Table 4 on page 71.
Those countries which imported Australian
uranium in 2000 are listed in Table 3 below.
which Australian Uranium was supplied in 2000
Country
Tonnes UOC(U3O8)
% of total (rounded)
US
4152.1
47.2
Japan
2153.7
24.5
ROK
1025.3
11.7
France
497.1
5.7
UK
486.9
5.5
Sweden
235.8
2.7
Canada
99.6
1.1
Belgium
88.5
1.0
Finland
53.1
0.6
Total
8792.1
100
These figures are for calendar
year 2000 and do not correspond exactly to exports for the 2000-01 financial
year. The destinations are based on the
contracted end user at the time of export and do not take account of possible
on-selling to other countries within Australias bilateral network
As at the
end of 2000 there were 438 power reactors in operation in over 30 countries,
with a total electrical generating capacity of over 350 GWe, and an electrical
output of around 2,450 TWh. These
reactors produced 16% of the worlds electricity (details are on
page 66). Of these, 339 reactors
were operated by countries eligible to use Australian uranium. The reactors in these countries produced
13.6% of total world electricity: nuclear energys contribution to electricity
production in countries using Australian uranium ranged from almost 12% in
Canada to 76% in France.
In 2000, exports of Australian
uranium represented around 12% of the total carbon dioxide emissions avoided
world-wide through generating electricity by nuclear energy rather than fossil
fuels. Countries using Australian
uranium thereby avoided carbon dioxide emissions of around 340 million
tonnesequivalent to around 90% of Australias total carbon dioxide emissions
(from all sources).