Forty Years of Uranium Resources, Production and Demand in Perspective
The Red Book Retrospective
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Executive summary
Nuclear Energy Agency
When the first Red Book was published in 1965, there were 29 reactors in operation worldwide with generating capacity totalling about 4 500 MWe. By 2003, 435 reactors were in operation with generating capacity totalling about 359 400 MWe. From 1965 to 2004, 20 Red Books were published, which over time tracked the growth of nuclear power and provided comprehensive official government data on uranium resources, exploration and production to the public. The 1965 Red Book included information relating to uranium resources in 16 countries with Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) totalling 993 000 tU. By 2003 RAR totalling 3 169 000 tU were reported by 43 countries. The history of the Red Book has paralleled the growth of nuclear energy but has also been influenced by world events. Foremost among these was the Cold War, during which military requirements for uranium were a major influence on the uranium market. Other significant events included the oil crisis in 1973 that increased public awareness of the potential of nuclear energy, the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl reactor accidents that slowed the growth of nuclear power and the end of the Cold War in 1989 that led to introduction of significant secondary sources of uranium to the world market as well as the inclusion of new information on the uranium industries of Central and Eastern European countries beginning in 1991 and countries of the former USSR beginning in 1993.
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