You can learn more about uranium mining techniques at this (surprisingly good) Wikipedia article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_mining>
There's a bit of debate about world uranium supplies. Apparently, something similar to the 'peak oil' theory is being applied, by some, to the question of how much recoverable uranium remains.
You can read about known recoverable uranium resources here:
<http://www.uic.com.au/nip75.htm>
And this site provides a chart of world uranium mining stats:
<http://www.uic.com.au/nip41.htm>
Every reactor is, more or less, a 'breeder reactor' since all of them produce fissile material. However, “successful” breeder reactors – that is, a reactor that produces more fissile material than it consumes – remains more goal than working technology.
Once again (and I have to repeat how surprised I am by the article's quality) there's a Wikipedia entry that provides a good overview of the technology and issues:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor>
Returning to uranium supplies for a moment...
There is a (technically justifiable) hope that thorium, a naturally occurring radioactive metal, can be used for nuclear power to supplement or replace uranium fueled systems.
Here are some thorium related links -
American Scientist
<http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/25710/page/2>
Wikipedia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium>
World Nuclear Association
<http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf62.htm>
Researchers at India's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre appear to have made the most progress in using thorium for reactors -
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1471875,00040006.htm>
Why does nuclear power receive more attention than alternatives such as solar, geothermal and so on?
A big question. I don't think there's a single answer. I'm not sure profit enters into it in the traditional sense since the start up and maintenance costs are so very high. Surely, one of the attractions is the universality – that is, a nuke plant, reliably producing many megawatts of power for years, could be set up almost (almost) anywhere.
The same probably can't be said about other, 'greener', power generation systems.
Let me stress I freely admit to not being certain about that (I think Gar is LBO's alternative energy expert so perhaps he can share some data correcting my assumptions).
.d.
--------- Necessitas ultimum et maximum telum est.
Livy