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Uranium Facts For The Natural Resource Investor
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
surprisingly 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.
About the Author:
Charles Weber is an upcoming writer who researches various topics. Content
should be taken as information and not investment advice. His website with more
information about natural resource investing can be found at http://www.naturalresourceinvesting.com. Must include link. |