[rednesss]

What it means, is that without mining another ton of uranium ore, that there is enough U-238 already above ground and refined to provide 100% of the U.S. power needs taking into account a 5% increase every year for the next 500 years. The only stumbling block is the word Plutonium.

As a side note, if we would just reprocess out the uranium and plutonium from the spent fuel rods that are destined to be buried at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, then that could be used to provide power and not need to be sealed away for 3+ million years. It would really change the engineering requirements for Yucca Mountain.

[Frohickey]

There are two fissionable nuclear fuels, U-235, and Pu-239. U-235 is what makes enriched uranium, enriched. U-238 is what makes depleted uranium, depleted. Pu-239 is made from U-238.

If we would just start the process of recycling spent fuel rods again, we would decrease the amount of nuclear waste that has to be buried in Yucca Mountain. And recycling is good for the planet. :P