"Not to mentiopn the limited nature of fissionable material."

The abundance of fissionable material is probably greater than the lowball estimates. OTOH, contrary to the cornucopians most granites are probably not going to ground up for the contained U235. However, though a admittedly a diffuse source, even some granite is much hotter than average and might be considered ore if it ever comes down to that.

If we are going to continue using fission reactors over the medium term [50 plus years] answer to the availability of fissionable material is the fast breeder reactor. The technology can apparently be made to work.

The issue has been the reality that plutonium is easier to enrich to weapons grade that U235. Given that in addition to the long standing nuclear powers, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Isreal, [and maybe South Africa, Brasil and some others] have the bomb, that genie is already out of the bottle.

"Not to mentiopn the limited nature of fissionable material."

The abundance of fissionable material is probably greater than the lowball estimates. OTOH

STILL limited.   Like oil was limited in 1890 amd 'we' are now discussing this limited nature today, the use of fission is limited.

have the bomb, that genie is already out of the bottle.

But that does not address the need for long-term protection of nuclear waste.   'The Bomb' is preventable just by not using
'em,  Nuclear waste is preventable only by not making it.   After it is made, you have a many year protection need - longer than any human society has existed.

STILL limited.

Everything is limited. The wind & sun energy is limited to - isn't the sun sending limited energy to the Earth? Even the whole Universe contains a limited amount of energy.

The question is can a given resource be sufficient for such  an amount of time to justify the investments we make to develop it. With hundreds of years of conventional uranium reserves and many thousands of years if we start using breeders I can assure you that the answer for nuclear is YES.

"With hundreds of years of conventional uranium reserves"

Link please?

The European Nuclear Society states that with the current reserves "all 439 world-wide operated nuclear power plants can be supplied for several decades".

But if you are talking about ramping up the use of nuclear power (as half the world is saying), then that "several decades" will be shortened quite drastically.

The "uranium reserves" figure is not like "oil reserves", because it grows exponentially with the price you are willing to pay, (oil tends to grow too but the growth figure is very quicly reaches the natural limits).

From Wikipedia:

The ultimate supply of uranium is very large. It is estimated that for a ten times increase in price, the supply of uranium that can be economically mined is increased 300 times. See World Uranium Resources.[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium

To say that "we have several decades of uranium left" is like saying "we have only 100 days of food left in the world" (which can make you want to shoot yourself if you don't give it a second thought).

We are nowhere near to reaching the geological limits because what is being included in the official reserves now is just the tip of the tip of the iceberg. This link for example gives more than 100 years of U under 130$:

http://www.inb.gov.br/english/reservasMundiais.asp

But this is again relative, because should U go to 100$ and above (from the current ~ $35), the breeders reactors will become competitive, meaning that you have to multiply these figures by a factor of 100. In addition many new discoveries will be found all around the world if we simply start looking for them. Even now enormous amounts of nuclear fuel are simply stored away as waste, because the processed nuclear fuel contains plutonium and unburnt uranium that can be used. But the prices are so low that it is not worthed the investment and overcoming the NIMBYSsm.

Regarding economics - even at $130, the price of fuel will be below 30% of the production costs, assuming (wrongfully of course) that the sales prices in 100 years will remain at current levels.

You can also read this link:

http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/uranium.html

Very informative, reminding you once again to question your assumptions before making projections for the future (especially far in the future).