Alternate Resource Shocks

Actually we are approaching a "rare earth" shock now. While there are deposits in the USA they have not been mined for a while due to environmental issues, some in Australia are being developed and the US ones trying to be brought online. At the present time about 90% come from China which held them back from Japan for a period for political reasons, and is currently beginning to apply export controls. These elements a re very important for all sorts of high tech electronics including systems for wind turbines and high density power storage (new "green" energy systems). By limiting export, the Chinese can basically ensure that all of these nifty new and essential items are manufactured in China...you can see what this can lead to in many areas...
 
What I meant with the first was other countries actively preventing many from gaining the ability to make nuclear weapons, which means no nuclear generators. For example, I don't think the US would be thrilled if... I don't know, Egypt tried to build nuclear generators for this reason. They already weren't with Iran, and I don't think the world liked South Africa having them.

Egypt's been talking about building a reactor. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan are all building them. So is most of east Asia. The nuclear renaissance is still happening, just not in the West. And reactors, provided they're safeguarded, aren't a big deal; what's freaking us out about Iran is the enrichment program.

But anyway, I guess not with uranium, because from the sounds of things, nuclear generators are far too expensive. It seems they almost always require state funding, or at least state subsidies, to really get off the ground, which is rather opposite of current economic trends.

Pretty much. Nuclear can be economical, but it requires a long-range perspective - reactors are absolute cash cows once construction is paid off - and they benefit enormously from the sort of economies of scale you can really only get from government sponsorship. It's interesting to note that, of the countries with the most economically successful nuclear power sectors, most had very heavy government involvement.
 
With the first... wow, never mind. I guess nuclear reactors may soon become more common, with public investment.

The second... yeah... honestly, I'd argue that has more to with their decline in the US, which is that it isn't as willing to pay for the huge subsidies needed for their construction. 3 Mile Island helped however I don't see preventing that allowing their construction because they cost too much.
 
Not sure

It can be produced from the air and other natural gas wells, but that costs 10x as much

In any case I am not completely sure, read this awhile ago

A quick google suggests neon is about 10 times as expensive as helium. Theres about 4 times as much neon as helium in the atmosphere, so helium extracted that was would be 4-5 times as expensive as neon, likely. So that looks like about a 50 fold increase.
........
numbers. $33/100g Ne, thats about five moles or a bit more than a hundred litres at stp.

Helium $20-$50/100 cubic feet. A foot is 30 cm and a litre is (10cm)^3. So a cubic foot is nine litres.
 
A quick google suggests neon is about 10 times as expensive as helium. Theres about 4 times as much neon as helium in the atmosphere, so helium extracted that was would be 4-5 times as expensive as neon, likely. So that looks like about a 50 fold increase.
........
numbers. $33/100g Ne, thats about five moles or a bit more than a hundred litres at stp.

Helium $20-$50/100 cubic feet. A foot is 30 cm and a litre is (10cm)^3. So a cubic foot is nine litres.

The major source would be other natural gas wells, many of which contain supplies of radiogenic helium but are uneconomical to tap with the US government drawing down its strategic helium reserves. The present low price of helium is basically artificial, the result of a large supply being dumped on world markets.
 
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