Uranium: Abundance
A century of fuel, and far more with breeders
What this tab covers How much of this energy there is: the natural flow or stock, the share that could be harnessed, and how much is used today, compared with world primary energy use (592 EJ in 2024).Identified uranium resources of about 7.9 million tonnes would last over a century at current consumption in today's reactors, equal to about six years of total world primary energy. Breeder reactors, thorium and seawater uranium could extend this by orders of magnitude.
A stock: finite on human time scalesHow much there is
| Measure | Value | Compared with world energy use | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identified recoverable uranium resources (up to USD 260/kgU), 1 January 2023 | 7,934,500 tonnes U5 | about 6 years of world primary energy if used in today's reactors (calculated: about 115 years of reactor demand x 30.7 EJ/yr) | Reasonably assured plus inferred resources; up less than 0.5% on the previous edition |
| Mine production, 2024 | 60,213 tonnes U6 | fuels nuclear output of 30.7 EJ (counted as reactor heat), about 5.2% of world primary energy | Mining met about 90% of reactor demand; the rest came from stockpiles and recycled material |
| Nuclear energy in world primary energy, 2024 | 30.74 EJ1 | about 5.2% of 592 EJ world primary energy | The Energy Institute now counts nuclear at the heat released in the reactor (physical energy content method), about three times the electricity generated |
| Annual reactor requirements | nearly 69,000 tonnes U per year3 | resources-to-requirements ratio about 115 years (7.93 Mt / 69,000 t) | Resources-to-production ratio about 130 years on 2024 mine output |
| Uranium in seawater | more than 4 billion tonnes U4 | about 500 times identified land resources | Extraction demonstrated in the laboratory but not yet economic |
| Identified thorium resources | about 6.4 million tonnes Th7 | comparable to uranium resources; almost unused as fuel | India 850,000 t, Brazil 630,000 t, Australia and the US about 600,000 t each |
In 2024 nuclear power supplied 30.74 EJ of the 592 EJ world total (the Energy Institute counts nuclear at the reactor heat needed to make the electricity). Today's light-water reactors use uranium once and fission mainly the scarce uranium-235, leaving the uranium-238 largely unused, which is why resource estimates in 'years' are so sensitive to technology.
The Red Book projects that cumulative demand could exceed currently known resources in the 2080s under high growth or the 2110s under low growth, but notes that resources grow with exploration and price. Fast reactors that burn uranium-238, thorium cycles, the roughly 2 million tonnes of depleted uranium already in stock, and seawater extraction would each stretch supply far beyond these dates.
Sources
- Statistical Review of World Energy 2025 (74th edition): world total energy supply 592 EJ in 2024 (physical energy content method), the baseline for all vs_world comparisons Energy Institute, 2025
- Supply of Uranium World Nuclear Association, 2025
- Uranium from seawater (IAEA Bulletin 59-2) International Atomic Energy Agency, 2018
- Sufficient uranium resources exist, however investments needed to sustain high nuclear energy growth (Uranium 2024: Resources, Production and Demand) OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, 2025
- World Uranium Mining Production World Nuclear Association, 2025
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Thorium US Geological Survey, 2025