MOSCOW, May 1 (UPI) -- Uranium prices are increasing throughout the world; over the past three years, they have doubled, and not surprisingly. One cubic centimeter of uranium is equivalent to 60,000 liters of gasoline, 110 to 160 metric tons of coal, or 60,000 cubic meters of natural gas.

Being highly concentrated, this fuel can be easily and cheaply transported any distance. Its price factored in as part of generated power is comparatively small. So even a massive rise in uranium fuel prices has little effect on nuclear power costs. Since 1997 they have gone up by just 7 percent.

With current uranium production at 3,400 metric tons a year, its reserves will last for half a century. How will Russia's nuclear industry fare once the explored reserves run out? There are two options. The first is to look for an alternative way of supplying fuel for the nuclear industry. One is to use so-called "fast reactors" -- fast-breeder nuclear reactors.

Their advantages are moderate power intensity and low fuel consumption. Fast reactors can use uranium from poor fields, with a low degree of enrichment.

Another way is to recycle spent fuel, namely to obtain plutonium fuel separated from the uranium extracted from nuclear reactors.