Significant innovation and qualified personnel will be needed to recover untapped uranium resources to fuel the reactor fleet of the future, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi told the International Symposium on Uranium Raw Material for the Nuclear Cycle in Vienna.

“When we look at the global situation as well as the UN sustainable development goals and the Paris Agreement, addressing it all will largely depend on our ability to have one factor right: energy,” Grossi said.

Currently, some 60,000 tonnes of uranium are required annually to fuel the world’s 410 operating nuclear power plants, according to the 2022 Red Book, a publication on uranium resources, production and demand issued by the IAEA and the Nuclear Energy Agency.

However, with countries increasingly expected to turn to nuclear power to address climate change, energy security and sustainable development, demand could be as high as 100,000 tonnes of uranium per year by 2040.