Uranium Industry Annual 2002 from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides statistical data on the U.S. uranium industry’s activities relating to uranium raw materials and uranium marketing.

The 2002 edition contains data from 1993 through 2012 as collected on the Form EIA-858, "Uranium Industry Annual Survey." Data collected on the survey provide a statistical portrait of the industry’s activities for the survey year and also include information about the industry’s plans and commitments for the near-term future.

The first chapter of the report presents data on uranium raw materials activities for 1993 through 2002, including exploration activities and expenditures, EIA-estimated reserves, mine production of uranium, production of uranium concentrate, and industry employment.

Data about uranium marketing activities for 1998 through 2012 are presented in the second chapter, including data on purchases of uranium and enrichment services, enrichment feed deliveries, uranium fuel assemblies, contracted and unfilled market requirements, and uranium inventories.

Uranium Concentrate Production, 1993-2002 (Million Pounds U3O8)

Source: Energy Information Administration.

Raw Materials
The U.S. uranium raw materials industry declined for the sixth consecutive year in 2002. Total U.S. uranium exploration and development expenditures in 2002 were $0.4 million, a decrease of 93 percent from the 2001 level.

U.S. uranium concentrate (U3O8) production totaled 2.3 million pounds in 2002, 11 percent below the 2001 level and 63 percent less than in 1996. Almost all of the concentrate production in 2002 came from in-situ leaching.

Employment in the U.S. uranium raw materials industry totaled 426 person-years in 2002, a decrease of 62 percent since 1998.

The EIA estimates that year-end 2002 U.S. uranium reserves for the $30- and $50-per-pound U3O8 forward cost categories were 266 and 896 million pounds, respectively. Compared with the previous year, the 2002 reserves show modest decreases that reflect the combined effects of depletion and erosion of the remaining in-place ore at year-end 2002 after accounting for the mine production of uranium as reported by domestic mining firms.

Marketing Activities
Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors purchased a total of 52.7 million pounds U3O8 equivalent (U3O8e) from U.S. and foreign suppliers for delivery in 2002. The average price paid was $10.36 per pound U3O8e, 11 percent below the 1999 price.

Approximately 12 percent of all uranium purchased by owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors was U.S.-origin. In rank order, the top five foreign country origins were Canada (33 percent), Australia (21 percent), Russia (12 percent), Kazakhstan (10 percent), and Uzbekistan (7 percent).

Fuel assemblies loaded into U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors during 2002 contained 57.3 million pounds U3O8e. Total commercial inventories, as of December 31, 2002, were 101.1 million pounds U3O8e, a decrease of 2.6 million pounds from the end of 2001.

Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors owned 53.3 million pounds of U3O8e at the end of 2002, while U.S. suppliers held the balance. The Department of Energy owned another 51.8 million pounds of natural uranium inventories at the end the year.

Uranium Industry Annual 2002 includes appendices that describe the survey methodology, the methodologies for estimating resources and reserves, and a list of respondents to the "Uranium Industry Annual Survey." Metric versions of selected tables are also presented in an appendix, along with the standard conversion factors used. A glossary of technical terms is found at the end of the report.

Uranium Industry Annual 2002, DOE/EIA-0478(2002); 62 pages, 52 tables, 22 figures.

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File last modified: June 30, 2003