Uranium price rally is a high-stakes bet on future of nuclear power – by Yvonne Yue Li, Will Wade and Stephen Stapczynski (Bloomberg News – September 22, 2021)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

After languishing at historical lows for the better part of the last decade, uranium suddenly came back from the dead. Prices have surged about 40% just in September, outpacing all other major commodities.

In just a few weeks, millions of pounds of supply was scooped up by the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust. It’s a massive bet on nuclear energy’s prominence in a carbon-free future. The problem is — at least for the investors who poured more than $240 million into the fund — the debate is still raging over whether and how nuclear can come to the forefront.

Atomic energy became somewhat taboo after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, with opponents saying the 2011 meltdown was only the most recent accident to demonstrate that reactors are too dangerous.

And while nuclear power is carbon-free, it has drawn opposition from some progressives and environmentalists who have qualms about radioactive waste. There are now only 50 reactors under construction worldwide, a 20-year low, according to Chris Gadomski, lead nuclear analyst for BloombergNEF.

For the rest of this article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-22/red-hot-uranium-rally-renews-debate-over-nuclear-s-future-in-zero-carbon-world