Uranium

During the cold war the US was producing 50% of the world’s supply of uranium. When the USSR fell in 1990, Russian industries were catabolized and in one deal, Russia agreed to sell the US 500 tons of bomb grade uranium in a deal called Megatons to Megawatts. This was downgraded from 90% to 4% and sold at a huge discount. The US was producing enriched uranium at plants in Portsmouth and Paduca but they were going through the expensive enrichment process required by uranium. In the 90’s these plants were privatized and in 1998 a company called United States Enrichment Company (USEC) was created with an IPO that garnered $1.2 billion. The owners then decided to purchase cheap uranium from Russia and in 2001 Portsmouth was shut down and in 2010 Paduca closed. The $1.2 billion was used for USEC salaries and dividends. This is an example of the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about. Today the US produces only small amounts of uranium and is dependent on imports. As the world-wide demand for uranium increases, with the expected growth of nuclear power, the pressure will build to shift to thorium. Unlike uranium, thorium does not have to go through the very expensive enrichment process and is found all around the world in the waste products of other mining industries.