By: Charles Weber
Investing in uranium is looking toward the future. With fossil fuels fizzling out, the world needs reliable sources of energy. The price of uranium has moved surpisingly fast over the last year with the scare of oil and natural gas shortages. Also, analysts report a severe uranium shortage over the next ten years. Lets take a look at what uranium is and how it is/will be used. I have always heard "buy what you know", so hopefully you will know a little more about uranium after reading.
Uranium can be found abundantly on the planet. Uranium is formed when stars explode, expelling the heavy element. Uranium-238, the most common form of uranium found on earth has a half life of 4.5 billion years, which explains its large quantity (around 99% of the world’s uranium). Uranium-235 makes up a little more then half of the remaining 1%. Uranium-234 makes up small amount left.
The most important form of uranium is uranium-235, which possesses some very useful characteristics. Uranium-235 can undergo “induced-fission”. Induced fission is when a free neutron is used to bombard the element, causing it immediately to destabilize and split. During this reaction a large amount of heat is given off. This heat, through various means, can be harvested into power. This is process is commonly called nuclear fission. Over 400 nuclear fission generators exist in the world today in major countries such as the US, China, Russia and Germany. Nuclear power planys fired up in 1959. The number is growing dramatically as countries are expanding their power grids. Demand for uranium and uranium enrichment increases as more nations decide to add nuclear power to their power creating arsenals.
Discuss with your investment advisor the pros and cons of adding uranium stocks to your portfolio. I have several precious metal and natural resource mining stocks in my portfolio which have done well over the last year. I am definitely going to add a uranium mining company to my list of stocks.
Article Tags: nuclear, power, uranium
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