US Homes can be without power after December 30 2013

Ateneo Professor on Entrepreneurship

From  Angel Nexus

American Homes could be in the dark because of shortage of Uranium. 31 states in the US are powered up by nuclear energy.  And most of the uranium comes from dismantled 20,000 Russian warheads.

Demand from US nuclear power plants is 43 million pounds of uranium.  US can supply only 10% of this.  The last supply of uranium from Russia ends two weeks from now.  And there is no way by which the supply grid can be replaced soon?

Russia is no mood, especially USSR President Putin, with his criticism of US exceptionalism is in  a mood to renew or extend the supply contract.  What will US do next?

What is the crisis, the opportunity?


Read more


America's Deadline: December 30, 2013
The truth is America's electricity system is fragile — much more fragile than you think.
Putin, of all people, knows this. And he should!
After all, Russia is the reason millions of Americans can switch on the lights in their homes... cook dinner in their microwave... watch a movie... go to a nice restaurant... and read their children bedtime stories by lamplight at night.
The scary part is this will be taken away from us at the snap of Putin's finger — after December 30.
Does Uncle Sam have a backup plan?
Not really.
Now, bear in mind this is not about natural gas or oil...
As you know, America has enough of that (for now).
It's not about solar or wind energy, either.
Our problem lies deep within something most Americas have no idea about...
You see, a staggering 31 U.S. states run on nuclear energy.
Love it or hate it, nuclear energy is the reason millions of Americans can live a normal life, day or night.
Nuclear powers one in every five homes.
In short, 20% of U.S. electricity comes from nuclear.

And no one's more excited about nuclear than Obama, who said he's: "Looking forward to working with congress on implementing policies that ensure that our nation can continue to rely on carbon-free nuclear power."
No surprise there... After all, nuclear energy, according to most world governments, is the safest and most reliable source of power.
But here's where this story gets interesting...
America's fleet of 104 nuclear plants swallows over 43 million pounds of uranium annually.
After the Cold War of the 1970s, Russia had a huge stockpile of uranium and — get this — it was uranium from nuclear warheads that were just lying around. America knew this. And we needed uranium to keep the lights on for American families.
At the same time, Russia was broke, while Boris Yeltsin was a miserable man!
An ingenious solution was then hatched...

Russian Bombs Lighting American Homes

In 1992, the White House and Yeltsin signed a 20-year contract worth $12 billion to supply America with uranium extracted from those bombs.
They whipped up a fancy name for this program: Megatons to Megawatts (M2M).
Uranium from Russia's bombs was down-blended, a process that takes high-grade nuclear bomb uranium and reprocesses it for electricity use in nuclear plants, in Russia's own facilities.
The truth is Russia and the U.S. NEVER trusted each other throughout the 20-year contract, so they monitored each other...
Both countries were sleeping with one eye open.
U.S. inspectors made 359 monitoring trips to four of Russia's uranium processing facilities to ensure the Russians were extracting the uranium from the warheads as agreed.
Russia conducted reciprocal monitoring at U.S. facilities at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant near Paducah, Kentucky — just to make sure the U.S was using the uranium for electricity only.
I know this sounds like something out of a Robert Ludlum novel, but it couldn't be more real.
To this day, 20,000 Russian nuclear warheads have been dismantled to extract 21 million pounds of uranium for American electricity each year, says the World Nuclear Association.
It's this uranium that kept the lights on in cities like Austin, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Philly, and Miami for the last two decades.
The electricity in your home for everyday use is powered by uranium from Russian bombs.
And most Americans have no clue.

U.S Electricity Under Threat

But the most disturbing part is what's coming next...
The program expires in December. And the last shipment of uranium has left TVEL (a Russian nuclear fuel cycle company) by rail. It is en route to St. Petersburg, where it will be shipped to the U.S.A.

There's no way Putin will extend the contract, regardless of how much America begs.

Putin Thinks Boris Yeltsin was a Madman

President Putin and the current Russian powers view former President Yeltsin's agreement to this uranium contract as a betrayal of Russian sensibilities — and of her national security.
What will happen?
Starting in the next few weeks, with Russian supplies completely removed from the equation, 21 million pounds of uranium annually will be taken away from American electric grids.
With M2M no longer active, it means America must find a new supplier.
What about our own U.S. uranium production?
It doesn't even cut it.
Based on Energy Administration figures, the U.S. produces four million pounds of uranium from all its mines.
Demand from its nuclear power plants is over 43 million pounds — most of it imported, obviously from Russian bombs.
In short, we only produce 9% of the uranium we need to keep the lights on.
And this is a phenomenon that could leave millions in the dark... at the same time sending the price of uranium soaring 400%, making early investors extremely wealthy...
If you're an investor on the right side of this imminent boom, you could easily turn a small $5,000 stake into $25,000 with no sweat.
Insiders are already bracing for this new uranium bull market that's coming. It's as sure as the sun will rise.
As I said, we're already up 33% on one uranium play... and enjoying the ride up.
Whether you're pro- or anti-nuclear really doesn't matter. The truth is America needs uranium right now more than ever, because millions of homes are connected to nuclear grids.
And here's the thing: You can't just shut down a nuclear power plant overnight and connect the grid to another source of energy.
Solar really isn't viable to power cities, let alone states. You need several panels to power even a tiny home. And the sun hardly shines every day.
What about wind? Well, those 300-foot wind turbines can barely generate enough electricity to run a small neighborhood. You be the judge.
What about fossil fuel plants like coal, gas, and oil? They're the culprits for 2,166 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere last year...