Sources of natural uranium supply for the Federal Republic

The Federal Republic must almost exclusively rely on imported uranium to fuel its nuclear power plants, because deposits worth mining in the country cannot make significant contributions. The uranium companies established 1967-1968 upon the initiative of the Federal Government, i.e., Uranerzbergbau of Bonn and Urangesellschaft of Frankfurt, have set themselves the task of supplying the Federal Republic with uranium. On a long term basis they want to satisfy some 60% of the German uranium requirement by direct interest in the production in various countries. In the medium and long term the Federal Republic will be responsible for 7% or 8% of the whole uranium requirement in the Western world, which is now estimated to amount to 80,000 to 100,000 t/a of natural uranium. The main countries of origin of the natural uranium supplied to the Federal Republic have so far been South Africa (including Namibia), Canada, France (including Gaboon and Niger), and the United States. (orig.)