A handout from the old EFN uranium mill in Utah states that one pound of U3O8 (assuming no recycling or reprocessing) is the energy equivalent 13.3 pounds of coal.
Just as coal deposits vary in quality, uranium deposits vary in grade. Typical Colorado Plateau ores mined by underground methods contain 0.25% U3O8, or 5 pounds U3O8 per ton. Typical Wyoming ores mined by open pit methods contain 0.1 to 0.15% U3O8. Ores leached by the in-situ method do not require the fossil-fuel burning equipment that underground and open pit methods typically employ. Most uranium production in the U.S. now comes from in-situ leaching. Any calculations not referenced to a specific ore deposit are risky because one must assume average ore grade and make several assumptions concerning the mining method.
Justifying one type of energy production at the expense of another based on what some view as political calculations, e.g. CO2 production is "bad", must make every environmentalist wacko smile very broadly.
John Hamrick
hamricjs@ucarb.com