Changes and events in uranium deposit development, exploration, resources, production and the world supply-demand relationship. Proceedings of a technical committee meeting

This report consists of the proceedings of the Technical Committee Meeting on Recent Changes and Events in Uranium Deposit Development, Exploration, Resources, Production and the World Supply/Demand Relationship, held in co-operation with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) in Kiev, Ukraine, from 22 to 26 May 1995. Some of the information from this meeting was also used in preparation of the 1995 edition of ''Uranium - Resources, Production and Demand'' a joint report by the OECD/NEA and the IAEA. At the Beginning of 1995 there were 432 nuclear power plants in operation with a combined electricity generating capacity of 340 GW(e). This represents nearly a 100% increase over the last decade. In 1995 over 2228 TW·h of electricity were generated, equivalent to about 17% of the world's total electricity. To achieve this, about 61,000 t U were required as nuclear fuel. For about a decade and a half uranium production and related activities have been decreasing because of declining uranium prices. For many participants in the nuclear industry there has been little interest in uranium supply because of the oversupplied market condition. The declining production led to the development of a supply and demand balance were production is currently meeting a little over 50% of reactor requirements and the excess inventory is being rapidly drawn down. This very unstable relationship has resulted in great uncertainty about the future supply or uranium. One of the objectives of this Technical Committee meeting was to bring together specialists in the field of uranium supply and demand to collect information on new developments. This helps provide a better understanding of the current situation, as well as providing information to plan for the future. Refs, figs, tabs