# Uranium: Stocks

Old warheads that once fuelled power stations

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/stocks/

What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.

#### Top five countries: reserves, output and years of supply

| Country | Reserves kt U identified recoverable resources (approximate, Red Book 2024 country shares x about 7.9 Mt world total) | Current output kt U mine output (2024) | Years of supply | Recycling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Kazakhstan** | 1,100 | 23.27 | 47 | n/a |
| **Canada** | 790 | 14.31 | 55 | n/a |
| **Namibia** | – | 7.33 | – | n/a |
| **Australia** | 2,200 | 4.6 | 478 | n/a |
| **Uzbekistan** | – | 4 | – | n/a |

 OECD-NEA/IAEA Uranium 2024 (Red Book), as reported by the American Nuclear Society; World Nuclear Association 2024 production. Years of supply = reserves ÷ current output; reserves grow as prices and technology change, so this is not a countdown.

#### Recycling

Uranium is not recycled from products; instead, spent fuel can be reprocessed to recover uranium and plutonium (France, Russia, India) and enrichment tails can be re-enriched. Secondary supplies filled 10% of demand in 2024 (WNA). Country resource figures for Namibia and Uzbekistan were not found; the others are derived from Red Book shares and are approximate.

Uranium is unusual in having large stocks above ground. Utilities keep long fuel inventories, because fuel is a small part of generating cost and a reactor standing idle is very costly. Governments hold military and civil stockpiles, and down-blended weapons uranium fuelled many reactors after the Cold War. Spent fuel still contains usable uranium and plutonium; France and Russia reprocess some, but most is stored. Radetzki & Wårell show how utility over-buying in the 1970s, then destocking, drove the market.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/index.md)
- [Energy overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/energy/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/correlation/index.md)
- [How energy resides](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/resides/index.md)
- [Abundance](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/abundance/index.md)
- [Fluctuation in time](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/time/index.md)
- [Across the Earth](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/geography/index.md)
- [Impact on nature](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/nature/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/overview/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/production/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/links/index.md)