I think a lot of it is mined in Africa.
Comment on Why data centers want to have their own nuclear reactors
Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 6 months ago
Where do you buy fuel grade uranium in order to run your own reactor?
I’m asking for a friend.
Crack0n7uesday@lemmy.world 6 months ago
TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Well if you’re in the US you can get it from New Mexico and Wyoming. We’ve even got a few mines here in Texas.
So in the US it’s a matter of getting licensed by the NRC and contacting one of the many processing facilities.
ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Mali has a significant mine that France essentially controls. In America, we have mines but import a lot too.
We actually currently buy about 25% of our uranium supply from Russia, though Congress just passed a ban that’ll go in effect in 90 days. It allows for waivers if there are supply issues, though, so it might end up being more than 90 days. (I have no idea how quickly a country can find a new uranium supplier but it sounds complicated.)
You999@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
You have to talk to a Westinghouse sells rep. If you want uranium outside of a fuel rod most chemical supplier sell it.
dwalin@lemmy.world 6 months ago
No shopping cart? Was this site built on the 90s?
You999@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Chemdirect has a shopping cart?
expr@programming.dev 6 months ago
I know it’s a joke, but just wanted to say that Uranium used for fuel is not something you can actually use for weaponry directly. It requires enrichment to increase the concentration of U-235 to weapons-grade levels.
Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I heard my local data center had a few fall off the truck last week out by lakeview.
Rakonat@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Railcar8095@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Just one note, nuclear power plants run at around 35% efficiency. This is because they are basically steam generators and tend to not push as hard for safety. I think they can get up to 40-45% with combined cycles and such, but then we are in the “very large” territory
bitwaba@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Large scale data centers, like the ones that end up in the news for FAANG are ~100 megawatt footprints.
I have no idea where you’re getting 3.4 megawatts as the largest data center in the US, but that is wildly undersized.
postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Probably in northern Utah.