nuclear-news

Falling demand, falling prices, make uranium a very dubious investment

Adding to the miners’ woes, uranium prices continue to fall, from US$73 a pound in March 2011, to around US$43 currently. That’s lower than the cash cost of production at Paladin’s Kayelekera mine in Malawi, giving the miner a decent sized headache.

Nuclear Fallout Hurts Uranium Miners , 9 News,   by Mike King, The Motley Fool, October 19, 2012 The world continues to feel the impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The disaster in Japan in 2011 has left 48 of Japan’s nuclear reactors sitting idle, awaiting government approval to resume operations, with just 2 restarted. In mid-September, the Japanese government approved a new energy plan which included reducing the nation’s reliance on nuclear energy substantially.
Following the Fukushima accident, Germany immediately shut 8 of its reactors, and plans to close its remaining 9 reactors by 2022.

The impact is being felt by uranium miners globally.

Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN) recently stated that annual demand for uranium has fallen, as the future of nuclear energy was cast into doubt. The world’s largest uranium producer, Canada’s Cameco, has also forecast lower sales and highlighted doubts about the take-up of nuclear power in future.
This appears to be a similar situation following the US 3 Mile Island
incident in 1979 and the Ukrainian Chernobyl incident in 1986.
Following those disasters, growth in nuclear reactors completely
derailed. Before those accidents, more than 1,000 reactors had been
planned to be built by the year 2000. The world currently has just 430
reactors, and the Fukushima incident could have the same effect on
planned nuclear reactors. According to the World Nuclear Association,
160 reactors are planned and over 320 have been proposed. We have
serious doubts that many of those will go ahead, further reducing
demand for uranium.

Adding to the miners’ woes, uranium prices continue to fall, from US$73 a pound in March 2011, to around US$43 currently. That’s lower than the cash cost of production at Paladin’s Kayelekera mine in Malawi, giving the miner a decent sized headache.

The big hope for many miners is for India to embrace nuclear energy to
resolve its ongoing power outages. However, the massive increase in
gas exploration and generation, including coal seam gas and shale gas,
and the subsequent fall in gas prices, could make gas a much more
attractive option for power generation than nuclear….

October 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs