Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy is witnessing a renaissance, we are tracking the fuel and supply chain issues. 

For media or interview inquiries, or for more information about the Payne Institute for Public Policy, please contact our Deputy Director, Greg Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.

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Mines Energy Research Magazine 4/6/2026

Mines Energy Research Magazine

The Payne Institute is featured in the Energy Issue of the Mines Research Magazine which highlights how Mines stands at the center of the energy conversation. We integrate education, research and industry partnerships to spur innovation and prepare adaptable, forward-thinking talent to lead what’s next in the domestic and international energy workforce.  April 6, 2026.

Data centers are gobbling up a resource — but not the one you think 3/25/2026

Data centers are gobbling up a resource — but not the one you think

Brandon N. Owens and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian write about how expanding footprint of AI infrastructure creates a thirst for more than electricity.  Technology companies are committing billions of dollars to facilities designed to power the next generation of computing.   March 25, 2026.

The Pentagon is looking to nuclear waste for power 3/17/2026

The Pentagon is looking to nuclear waste for power

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jenifer Shafer contributed to this article about how a Rhode Island start-up is working to recycle spent nuclear fuel into long-lasting power systems for the military.  Mining this atomic rubbish is particularly attractive for military applications. Vehicle convoys, for instance, are vulnerable targets. Radioactivity could power them, no refueling required. Remote outposts could use advanced reactors running on reprocessed fuel.   March 17, 2026.

Nuclear and SMR Non‑Fuel Critical Minerals Supply Chain: An Emerging Fourth Value Chain 3/11/2026

Nuclear and SMR Non‑Fuel Critical Minerals Supply Chain: An Emerging Fourth Value Chain

Kruthika A. Bala and Payne Institute Senior Research Fellow R.J. Johnston write about how as Canada expands its nuclear ambitions through small modular reactors (SMRs) and legacy technologies such as CANDU and AP-1000 reactor designs, a new strategic value chain for critical minerals demand is emerging. The nuclear sector is emerging as a fourth value chain for critical minerals, alongside clean energy, defence, and artificial intelligence/semiconductors.  March 11, 2026.

Scale Matters: Even Climate Hawks Are Embracing Nuclear Power 12/22/25

Scale Matters: Even Climate Hawks Are Embracing Nuclear Power

Payne Institute Accelerated Methane Reduction Program Manager Simon Lomax writes about how nuclear energy is the No. 1 source of carbon-free electricity in the US, producing more than wind turbines and solar panels combined.  Even so, support for nuclear has been soft among so-called climate hawks — the public officials and thought leaders who rank global warming as one of the top issues facing the US and the world. December 22, 2025.

Commercializing Fusion Energy 12/3/2025

Commercializing Fusion Energy

Payne Institute Fellow William Nuttall cowrote this book about how fusion energy has now emerged as one of the most disruptive technology opportunities attracting the attention of risk-tolerant investors and large amounts of private capital. This book considers the emergence of nuclear fusion technology as a commercial proposition grounded in technological opportunities and also in high-technology business development.   December 3, 2025.

AI’s Power Problem Could Launch a Nuclear Renaissance 11/7/2025

AI’s Power Problem Could Launch a Nuclear Renaissance

Brandon N. Owens and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian write about how AI’s growth has outpaced America’s power grid. Nuclear energy could be the key to powering the AI era—if policy, permitting, and planning can keep pace. November 7, 2025.

Chile’s lithium exceptionalism: Strategic legacies and the contested future of the Salar de Maricunga 11/6/2025

Chile’s lithium exceptionalism: Strategic legacies and the contested future of the Salar de Maricunga

Vlado Vivoda, Natalie Ralph, Asmaa Khadim, Nigel Wight, and Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian write about how Chile’s approach, governed under an exceptional legal regime, created during the Cold War to safeguard potential nuclear applications, represents a case of lithium exceptionalism: a uniquely Chilean configuration shaped by historical legal restrictions, renewed state ambition, and intensifying global competition.  November 6, 2025.

Quantum Sensing and the Future of Warfare: Five Essential Reforms to Stay Competitive 10/9/2025

Quantum Sensing and the Future of Warfare: Five Essential Reforms to Stay Competitive

Payne Institute Fellow Jahara Matisek, Katrina Schweiker, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how quantum sensing is primed for a breakout that will radically change both conventional and nuclear warfare, requiring essential reforms for the Department of Defense (recently renamed to the Department of War) to maintain a competitive advantage.  October 9, 2025.

Astronaut nuclear safety: A concept for managing crew risks when using space nuclear power systems 4/23/2025

Astronaut nuclear safety: A concept for managing crew risks when using space nuclear power systems

Payne Institute Fellow Alexander Q. Gilbert writes about how space nuclear power systems can provide transformational, enabling capabilities for human space exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.  However, widespread use of space nuclear power systems in direct support of astronaut operations calls for a concerted and holistic focus on the impacts on crew safety.   April 23, 2025.

Influence of climate change and accidents on perception differs among energy technologies 3/7/2025

Influence of climate change and accidents on perception differs among energy technologies

Guillaume F. L’Her, Nickolas A. Duncan, Hank C. Jenkins-Smith, and Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Mark R. Deinert write about how public perception of energy technologies is crucial for their acceptance and development, particularly in the context of climate change and postaccident scenarios.  March 7, 2025.

US in ‘Final Stages’ of Agreeing to Ukraine Minerals Deal 2/24/2025

US in ‘Final Stages’ of Agreeing to Ukraine Minerals Deal: Kyiv

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this article about how Kyiv and the United States are in the final stages of negotiating a minerals deal.  Ukraine has Europe’s largest reserves of titanium, used in aerospace, automotive, and medical industries, as well as uranium, the primary fuel source for nuclear power reactors and weapon production.  February 24, 2025.

Potential for small and micro modular reactors to electrify developing regions 4/19/2024

Potential for small and micro modular reactors to electrify developing regions

Mines Faculty Guillaume L’Her, R. Scott Kemp, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, and Faculty Fellow Mark Deinert write about how small-scale nuclear power is typically thought of for niche markets, however recent work has suggested that it could help address the massive gaps in energy access in developing countries.  They present a global analysis of regions suitable for nuclear reactor deployment based on physical siting criteria, security, governance and economic competitiveness.  April 19, 2024.

Nuclear Power is Tribal Power 3/19/2024

Nuclear Power is Tribal Power

Payne Institute Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty (NAMES) Initiative Program Manager Rick Tallman, Fellow Richard Luarkie and Director Morgan D. Bazilian write about how with the newly found bipartisan political will for American nuclear power, the U.S. is poised for a uranium mining boom once again. As the inevitable debate ensues, what is often not appreciated is the essential need to gain support from our Native American communities from the very start and through the developments.  March 19, 2024.

First Uranium Mines to Dig in the US in Eight Years Begin Operations Near Grand Canyon 1/15/2024

First Uranium Mines to Dig in the US in Eight Years Begin Operations Near Grand Canyon

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributes to this article about the push for more nuclear energy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  How it has spiked uranium prices, leading mines for the element to begin operating again in the U.S. despite long-term environmental and health impacts. January 15, 2024.

Nuclear Medicine Technologies for Global Health 6/9/2023

Nuclear Medicine Technologies for Global Health

Payne Institute Fellow William Nuttall co-wrote this report on proposals for strengthening nuclear medicine globally whilst minimising proliferation risks.  Dr. Nuttall introduced the idea of a theoretical small-scale medical isotope reactor that might be designed and built in the United Kingdom and a partner country for export to states in need of a resilient supply of short-lived medical isotopes to serve the growing health needs of their populations; and the the technological criteria required for such a technology to be exported without proliferation risks, and the alternative models of supply to address limitations to the current system of supply.  June 9, 2023.

Colorado School of Mines part of multi-university team selected by DoD for social science research 3/13/2023

Colorado School of Mines part of multi-university team selected by DoD for social science research

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Faculty Fellow Mark Deinert will be contributing to research on critical minerals, battery technology, and reducing dependence on hostile suppliers in the clean energy supply chain along with Payne Institute Fellow Professor Joshua Busby, LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas, Austin and Professor Emily Holland, U.S. Naval War College.  March 13, 2023.  

America Reenters Competition for Global Nuclear Energy Markets 1/31/2023

America Reenters Competition for Global Nuclear Energy Markets

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Fellow Alex Gilbert write about how during the 2010s, the United States was on the verge of permanently losing competitiveness in global nuclear energy markets. This weakness threatened American geopolitical goals, with Russia further extending its nuclear market dominance and China eyeing reactor exports across the Belt and Road. In the last year, this outlook appears to have reversed.  January 31, 2023.

Ukraine Power Outages Viewed From the NASA/NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite at Night 1/10/2023

Ukraine Power Outages Viewed From the NASA/NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite at Night

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Director Christopher Elvidge, Research Associate Tilottama Ghosh and Mikhail Zhizhin, and student researcher Elijah Mt.Castle write about how as the Russia-Ukraine war approaches the 1 year mark the electrical grid in Ukraine has taken devastating damage. Russia has hit more than 200 targets in the electrical infrastructure. This has left millions of Ukrainian citizens without power in the cold winter months. In the early days of the war Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russia has now militarized the facility installing several Grad rocket launchers around the dry storage for spent nuclear fuel. Protective structures were erected to defend the launchers, but these structures violate international nuclear and radiation safety regulations.   January 10, 2023.  

Fusion energy breakthrough could be an ‘inflection point’ for clean fuel technology 12/12/2022

Fusion Energy Breakthrough Could be an Inflection Point for Clean Fuel Technology

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert is featured on this news show about a fusion energy breakthrough that could be an inflection point for clean fuel technology.  The Department of Energy is expected to announce a major development regarding fusion energy on Tuesday December 13th, and Alex Gilbert, discusses the significance of this potential discovery.  He further explains how scientists have produced net energy gain using fusion and how nuclear fusion power could be the key to clean energy.  December 12, 2022.

By 2025, coal will no longer be the main way to generate the world’s electricity 12/8/2022

By 2025, coal will no longer be the main way to generate the world’s electricity

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributes to this podcast on how the International Energy Agency released a report this week saying renewables would overtake coal and become the world’s biggest source of electricity generation by 2025.  The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act includes billions in subsidies and tax credits to encourage development of technologies like advanced nuclear power and hydrogen generation in the U.S.  December 8, 2022.

The Latest in Nuclear Energy Innovation and Deployment, with Alex Gilbert 9/27/2022

The Latest in Nuclear Energy Innovation and Deployment, with Alex Gilbert

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert is featured on this podcast about the latest developments in nuclear energy innovation, policy, and deployment.  In the podcast, he discusses the types of nuclear technologies in the development pipeline, how they differ from older technologies, which technologies are being piloted, and how recent policies—especially the Inflation Reduction Act—are incentivizing the deployment of these technologies. September 27, 2022.

How Ukrainians Purchased Military Equipment 9/9/2022

How Ukrainians Purchased Military Equipment

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Kathleen Hancock is featured on this podcast about how Ukraine and the IAEA say they’ve learned of a serious development at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The challenges facing the European Union as ministers meet to discuss what to do about soaring energy prices, as Russia threats to cut off natural gas supplies to Europe.  September 9, 2022.

Professor Jenifer Shafer named ACS Fellow 8/10/2022

Professor Jenifer Shafer named ACS Fellow

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jenifer Shafer has been named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Fellowship recognizes members of ACS who have made exceptional contributions to the science or profession, in addition to providing excellent volunteer service to the ACS community.  Shafer, who joined the Mines faculty in 2012, is a full professor in the Chemistry Department and Nuclear Science & Engineering Program and directs the Fundamental & Applied f-Element Research Group.  August 10, 2022.

Nuclear Power Reset? 7/25/2022

Nuclear Power Reset?

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how nuclear power, we’ve learned the hard way, can be dangerous and is always off-the-charts expensive. And if that doesn’t disqualify it as part of the solution to our energy woes, there are the problems of waste and nuclear weapons security. Or maybe not.  Last fall, for the first time in recent memory, nuclear energy was on the agenda of very serious people trying to stop climate change.  July 25, 2022.

Nuclear Renaissance Technologies and Policies for the Future of Nuclear Power 6/16/2022

Nuclear Renaissance: Technologies and Policies for the Future of Nuclear Power

Payne Institute Fellow William Nuttall has published his second edition of his book that discusses nuclear power is low carbon and reliable, but in recent years it has struggled to play a strong role in global plans for electricity generation in the 21st century. Many of those involved with nuclear power and environmental agencies see controlled expansion of nuclear plants as the most environmentally friendly way of meeting growing energy demands. In the UK policy makers must recognise concerns around severe accidents and radioactive wastes and balance these against the risks arising from other energy technologies. In addition, energy policy-makers must ensure that energy supplies remain affordable for all in society. How might new nuclear power stations help meet emerging policy needs?  June 16, 2022.

Biden poised to invoke Cold War-era law to encourage domestic mining 3/31/2022

Biden poised to invoke Cold War-era law to encourage domestic mining

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this podcast about Russia’s presence worldwide in uranium enrichment and how developing countries have traditionally turned to Russia to help develop nuclear power plants.  Up until 2 months ago this was a viable option, now there are other challenges (sound clip starts at 13:00 minutes into the podcast). March 31, 2022.  

Barrasso, Lummis sponsor bill that would ban Russian uranium 3/18/2022

Barrasso, Lummis sponsor bill that would ban Russian uranium

Payne Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributed to this article about how Wyoming’s Sen. John Barrasso has called repeatedly for uranium to be included in the federal ban on Russian energy imports. He introduced a bill in the Senate on Wednesday intended to keep Russian uranium out of U.S. reactors. However, figuring out where uranium came from quickly gets complicated. Converting uranium ore into the fuel rods used in nuclear reactors is a multi-step process that often takes place across multiple countries. March 18, 2022.

Russia’s energy clout doesn’t just come from oil and gas – it’s also a key nuclear supplier 3/18/2022

Russia’s energy clout doesn’t just come from oil and gas – it’s also a key nuclear supplier

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how as Western nations look for ways to reduce their reliance on Russian oil and gas, another aspect of the Ukraine crisis has received less attention: Most of the 32 countries that use nuclear power rely on Russia for some part of their nuclear fuel supply chain. Economic fallout from the war in Ukraine could disrupt access to fuel for the nuclear power industry. We believe that countering Russia’s influence will require concerted efforts that balance energy security, climate mitigation and a commitment to international law.  March 18, 2022.

Nuclear thermal propulsion is key to keeping peace in space 2/14/2022

Nuclear thermal propulsion is key to keeping peace in space

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how the strategic mandate for nuclear propulsion of US satellites and space-based assets to evade the growing threat from Russia and China’s anti-satellite weapons. The report’s analysis and conclusions are sound and timely, but nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) has broader applicability in space, including commercial and “soft power” uses. The US should pursue a concerted, sustained whole-of-government approach to it. Beyond achieving a first-mover advantage, this will allow the US to develop norms and solidify rules of the road espoused by the UN last fall, rules aimed at preventing war in the heavens.  February 14, 2022.

Nuclear power and renewable energy are both associated with national decarbonization 1/27/2022

Nuclear power and renewable energy are both associated with national decarbonization

Harrison Fell, Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert, Jesse D. Jenkins, and Matto Mildenberger write about their reanalysis of a recent article from Sovacool et al.1 that use cross-sectional regression analysis to test associations between different clean energy deployment patterns and national carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution levels.  Here they critically review the article’s claims and methods to highlight several limitations. They then perform a reanalysis using the same data sources and time periods but with both a revised cross-sectional analysis and a more statistically powerful panel data analysis to test the same empirical question: is nuclear power historically associated with reduced CO2 emissions? They find that nuclear power and renewable energy are both associated with lower per capita CO2 emissions with effects of similar magnitude and statistical significance, which invalidates the central claim of Sovacool et al.1. The further demonstrate through sensitivity analysis that this association is robust to potential omitted variables.  January 27, 2022.  

How nuclear energy can help make all UK electricity green by 2035 10/6/2021

How nuclear energy can help make all UK electricity green by 2035

Payne Institute Fellow William Nuttall writes how Boris Johnson is set to announce at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester that all of Britain’s electricity will come from renewable sources by 2035, according to a recent report in the Times.  The government suspects that the British public – tired of petrol station queues and dreading winter gas bills – will like the idea of moving away from fossil fuels, and towards nuclear power. October 6, 2021.

Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order 9/1/2021

Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order

Payne Institute Fellow Jeff D. Colgan wrote this book about how the global history of oil politics, from World War I to the present, can teach us much about world politics, climate change, and international order in the twenty-first century. Offering lessons for leaders and analysts seeking to design new international governing arrangements to manage an array of pressing concerns ranging from US-China rivalry to climate change, and from nuclear proliferation to peacekeeping.  September 1, 2021.

Enhancing Military and Commercial Spacepower through Nuclear 7/20/2021

Enhancing Military and Commercial Spacepower through Nuclear

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how the strategic competition among great powers is increasing the importance of maintaining and increasing U.S. national power in outer space. The United States, Russia, and China are all pursuing space reactors and nuclear rockets but spacepower and associated theories have yet to fully consider how space nuclear technologies enable national space capabilities. Similarly, the role of space nuclear energy in the Department of Defense (DOD) – namely, the U.S. Space Force planning remains unclear. This article examines space nuclear energy’s contribution to U.S. national power. July 20, 2021.

Identifying Governance Challenges for Nuclear Energy on the Moon 5/17/2021

Identifying Governance Challenges for Nuclear Energy on the Moon

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert writes about how as countries and companies look to expand economic and scientific activities to the Moon and beyond, the performance advantages of nuclear energy underlie renewed interest in the technology, and iterative development of national and international law is needed to establish sustainable governance.  May 17, 2021. 

Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right? 3/10/2021

Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right?

Payne Institute Fellow William Nuttall and Philip Thomas write about how the world saw something never before caught on camera on March 12, 2011: an explosion ripping the roof off a nuclear power plant – Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi. The blast wasn’t actually nuclear, it was the result of hot hydrogen gas encountering the cool, outside air during the aftermath of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. But the distinction hardly mattered – something had clearly gone terribly wrong.  In order to minimise suffering in future nuclear accidents, there are important lessons from March 2011 that must be learned.  March 10, 2021.

What can the Texas electricity crisis tell us about the future of energy markets? 2/23/2021

What can the Texas electricity crisis tell us about the future of energy markets?

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Director Morgan Bazilian write an opinion piece about the extreme winter weather in Texas that has caused energy shortages and threatened health and safety.  The energy system failures suggest that better grid planning is needed to meet demand during these difficult conditions, write two experts. A variety of energy sources should be considered moving forward, such as nuclear energy, carbon capture and enhanced geothermal systems.   February 23, 2021.  

Is Canada betting big on small nuclear reactors? Here’s what you need to know 1/4/2021

Is Canada betting big on small nuclear reactors? Here’s what you need to know

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon contributes to this article about how small modular reactors are variously described as a clean energy solution, a waste of time and a new danger. The Canadian federal government could be preparing to bet big on small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs. There have been rumblings about the technology for years, but the SMR Action Plan, due to be released this month, is expected to lay out Ottawa’s role in advancing the technology.  January 4, 2021.

Shadow Warfare: Cyberwar Policy in the United States, Russia and China 11/20/2020

Shadow Warfare: Cyberwar Policy in the United States, Russia and China

The Payne Institute would like to congratulate Faculty Fellow Elizabeth Van Wie Davis on her new book Shadow Warfare: Cyberwar Policy in the United States, Russia and China.  Cyberwarfare, like the seismic shift of policy with nuclear warfare, is modifying warfare into non-war warfare. A few distinctive characteristics of cyberwar emerge. Cyberwarfare has blurred the distinction between adversary and ally. Cyber probes continuously occur between allies and enemies alike, causing cyberespionage to merge with warfare.  Order book here.  November 20, 2020.  

 

Beware of climate delay, masquerading as climate action 9/10/2020

Beware of climate delay, masquerading as climate action

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon writes an opinion piece about the slow-walking action on climate has almost the same impact as outright denial.  As political leaders face growing calls for climate action, we must be careful to understand where investments in technological development are, in fact, a form of climate delay, masquerading as action.  September 10, 2020.

Can Distributed Nuclear Power Address Energy Resilience and Energy Poverty? 8/19/2020

Can Distributed Nuclear Power Address Energy Resilience and Energy Poverty?

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Morgan Bazilian write about the three major energy challenges that are driving national and international energy decision making. First, the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Second, despite recent progress, many communities in both developed and developing countries remain in energy poverty or lack reliable, low-cost energy services. Finally, due to climate-amplified natural disasters and other threats, the reliability and resilience of energy systems is an increasing public concern. Existing distributed energy resources (DERs), especially solar photovoltaics and battery storage, are attempting to address each of these issues. However, more and faster progress is needed. Recent innovations in advanced nuclear designs could make nuclear power a distributed energy solution for the first time. As a dispatchable and resilient energy source, distributed nuclear could complement and accelerate the ongoing distributed energy revolution.  August 19, 2020.

MINES ENERGY FUTURE PODCAST – DR. M.V. Ramana Small Modular Reactors: History and Future Potential 7/21/2020

MINES ENERGY FUTURE PODCAST – DR. M.V. RAMANA DISCUSSES SMALL MODULAR REACTORS: HISTORY AND FUTURE POTENTIAL

Mines Energy Future podcast featuring Dr. M.V. Ramana,  Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security, Director, Liu Institute for Global Issues, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia discussing nuclear energy, and small modular reactors (SMR). July 21, 2020.

The Complex Policy Questions Raised by Nuclear Energy’s Role in the Future of Warfare March 16, 2020

THE COMPLEX POLICY QUESTIONS RAISED BY NUCLEAR ENERGY’S ROLE IN THE FUTURE OF WARFARE

The United States military, as well as other militaries around the world, are racing to develop high-energy weapons—lasers, high-powered microwaves, and electromagnetic rail guns—in order to compete with near-peer competitors on the next generation of military technologies. But the electricity to power these systems will need to derive from somewhere, and so military planners are eyeing a new generation of energy-dense nuclear reactors, despite potential policy and legal challenges to doing so. March 16, 2020.

THORIUM: CRUSTAL ABUNDANCE, JOINT PRODUCTION, AND ECONOMIC AVAILABILITY 3.2.2015

THORIUM: CRUSTAL ABUNDANCE, JOINT PRODUCTION, AND ECONOMIC AVAILABILITY

Recently, interest in thorium’s potential use in a nuclear fuel cycle has been renewed. Thorium is more abundant, at least on average, than uranium in the earth’s crust and, therefore, could theoretically extend the use of nuclear energy technology beyond the economic limits of uranium resources. This paper provides an economic assessment of thorium availability by creating cumulative-availability and potential mining-industry cost curves, based on known thorium resources. March 2, 2015.