Uranium prices are up over 8% in the last three weeks, and nearly 60% over this year's lows, to $80.75 per ton. The thinly-traded commodity (the vast majority of supply is via long-term contracts) is getting squeezed. Demand has been strong with natural gas supply difficulties in Europe pushing up capacity factors. And supply is getting hit with multiple worries with Cameco, the world's 2nd largest producer, announcing shortfalls at key mines compared to expectations, a coup in Niger (supplier of 5% of the world's uranium) disrupting shipments, and worries about reliance on Rusatom, the Russian enrichment company, have all combined to squeeze prices, and spur trading activity.
Featured Articles
- Blog
We'll Be Together - To Meet Power-Demand Surge, Data Centers Increasingly Turning to Nuclear Power
The growing number of energy-intensive data centers coming online across the U.S. is spurring utilities to ramp up plans to add new sources of power generation but also complicating efforts to decarbonize. One of the hottest topics in energy today is how plans to restart shuttered nuclear plants and build new small modular reactors (SMRs) could help accomplish both goals. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at why data centers and nuclear power seem like a natural fit, examine which shuttered plants might be brought back to life, and outline plans by a pair of U.S. economic titans to bring new advanced reactors online.
- Blog
No Easy Way Out - Changes to Global Refining Industry Fueled by Pandemic, Economics
The high cost of gasoline and diesel and their impact on inflation and the global economy has been a major market development this year, with the blame typically being cast on politicians, oil producers and policies intended to limit development of traditional energy resources and encourage decarbonization — and sometimes all of the above. Prices have retreated in recent weeks amid lower consumer demand and worries about the state of the global economy, but long-term concerns about global refining capacity and the possibility of another price spike remain. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss highlights from our new Drill Down Report on the state of global refining.
- Blog
Rise Up - Restarts, Uprating, Microreactors to Play Important Roles in Building U.S. Nuclear Capacity
The U.S. intends to triple its nuclear generating capacity by 2050 to meet the expected growth in electricity demand and expand carbon-free power production. In a recently related roadmap to achieving that goal, the outgoing Biden administration said the U.S. aimed to have 35 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear capacity either in operation or under construction by 2035. It also outlined the key roles that restarting previously shut reactors, uprating some facilities to produce more power and the development of microreactors could play in the years ahead. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the report’s key findings and recommendations and what they tell us about the future of U.S. nuclear power.
