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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

What happened to the atomic test dummies? – by Glen Meek (Nevada Independent – March 17, 2023)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/

St. Patrick’s Day always rocks in Las Vegas, but not like it did 70 years ago when a 16-kiloton atom bomb detonated atop a tower at the Nevada Proving Grounds, 65 miles north of the city.

The March 17, 1953 above-ground nuclear test destroyed or damaged various test objects placed at differing distances from ground zero, including houses, cars and mannequins meant to simulate real people who might get caught in a nuclear blast. The explosion sent a shock wave through southern Nevada and left behind an atom-age mystery: What happened to the life-like mannequins used in the test?

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Worry, mistrust meet plans to secure waste from Niger uranium mine (France24.com – March 15, 2023)

https://www.france24.com/en/

Arlit (Niger) (AFP) – Towering mounds dot the desert landscape in northern Niger’s Arlit region, but there is little natural about them — they are heaps of partially radioactive waste left from four decades of operations at one of the world’s biggest uranium mines.

An ambitious 10-year scheme costing $160 million is underway to secure the waste and avoid risks to health and the environment, but many local people are worried or sceptical. From 1978, France’s nuclear giant Areva, now called Orano, worked the area under a subsidiary, the Akouta Mining Company (Cominak).

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Why Russia Has Such a Strong Grip on Europe’s Nuclear Power – by Patricia Cohen (New York Times – March 11, 2023)

https://www.nytimes.com/

New energy sources to replace oil and natural gas have been easier to find than kicking the dependency on Rosatom, the state-owned nuclear superstore.

The pinched cylinders of Russian-built nuclear power plants that dot Europe’s landscape are visible reminders of the crucial role that Russia still plays in the continent’s energy supply. Europe moved with startling speed to wean itself off Russian oil and natural gas in the wake of war in Ukraine. But breaking the longstanding dependency on Russia’s vast nuclear industry is a much more complicated undertaking.

Russia, through its mammoth state-owned nuclear power company, Rosatom, dominates the global nuclear supply chain. It was Europe’s third-largest supplier of uranium in 2021, accounting for 20 percent of the total. With few ready alternatives, there has been scant support for sanctions against Rosatom — despite urging from the Ukrainian government in Kyiv.

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The time young Jimmy Carter helped save Canada from nuclear disaster (National Post – February 20, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

Jimmy Carter, who entered hospice care at home on the weekend, has had long and surprising connections to Canada, including the time he helped save us from a nuclear meltdown.

fter Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, he was assigned to the early American nuclear submarine program when an accident at Canada’s NRX nuclear research reactor at Chalk River, Ont., caused a loss of coolant to the reactor and the core was left significantly damaged.

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Sask. ‘well-positioned’ to fill resource gaps left by war, sanctions on Russia: economic experts – by Dayne Patterson (CBC News Saskatoon – February 14, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/

Cameco signs uranium deal with Ukraine worth billions

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to significant gains for Saskatchewan’s resource-based companies, industry experts say.

Cameco Corp., a Saskatoon-based company, announced last week that it has agreed to a multi-billion-dollar contract with SE NNEGC Energoatom — Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear energy utility — to meet Ukraine’s full nuclear needs from 2024 to 2035.

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Uranium price expected to rise in 2023 on nuclear power revival – by Bruno Venditti (Mining.com – January 31, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

There will likely be a further recovery of uranium prices in 2023 as nuclear energy regains popularity, was the sentiment among uranium specialists who spoke on Monday at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC).

With several of the world’s most developed countries announcing plans to extend the life of their existing nuclear power plants and some expanding their fleets, there was an optimistic buzz at VRIC.

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Grid Expert: Replacing Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant with Renewables ‘Can’t Be Done’ – by Carl Wurtz (Globe California – January 28, 2023)

Home

To go 100% renewable would drive electricity prices four to five times higher

With recent legislation limiting the lifetime of California’s last remaining nuclear power plant to eight more years, the debate about replacement power has once again been thrust to the forefront of environmental concerns: will higher emissions after the shutdown of Diablo Canyon doom California’s efforts to meet climate targets?

Though generating electricity with nuclear power produces no CO2, California agencies believe the answer is “no.” Every five years the California Air Resources Board (CARB) develops a plan to determine what sources will be needed to deliver clean electricity to 30 million customers.

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Federal gifts for the nuclear and mining industries – by Mark Winfield (Policy Options – January 25, 2023)

Policy Options

The government needs a more transparent and evidence-based approach to decision-making when assessing choices for decarbonization.

Canada’s nuclear industry got an important pre-Christmas gift from the federal government in the form of the announcement of its decision not to conduct an assessment under the 2019 Impact Assessment Act of a proposed small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) at the Point Lepreau site in New Brunswick.

The Lepreau SMR proposal has been highly controversial, given its reliance on technologies where the performance, costs and risks are essentially unknown. Moreover, serious questions have even been raised about whether the project, intended to reprocess fuel from the Lepreau CANDU reactors, would violate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

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The U.S. imports uranium from Russia. What if sanctions end that? – by Steven Mufson (Washington Post – January 21, 2023)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

If sanctions are imposed on Rosatom, Russia’s civilian nuclear firm, it could cut off exports of uranium to the U.S. and European nuclear industry. What would be the impact?

Russia’s state-owned nuclear power conglomerate, Rosatom, is suspected of supplying the Russian arms industry with components, technology and raw materials for missile fuel, The Washington Post reported Friday. The military goods were sent to more than half a dozen major weapons makers, aiding Moscow’s continuing assault on Ukraine.

That has elevated prospects that the United States, and possibly the European Union, might place sanctions on Rosatom, which exports uranium for use in nuclear reactors.

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CHART: Uranium’s third bull market since 1968 has further to run – by Frik Els (Mining.com – January 19, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

The uranium market ended 2022 on a sour note. Spot U3O8 price declined 2.3% to $48.31 per pound in December, but did finish the year 14.7% above its opening levels. Uranium mining equities fell 5% in December, bringing the sector’s losses for the year to 11.4%.

A new report by Sprott Asset Management says despite the recent softness, developments just in December underpin Western governments’ renewed focus on energy security due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will provide long-term structural support for uranium and uranium miners in 2023.

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Nuclear reactor pressure tubes are deteriorating faster than expected. Critics warn regulators are ‘breaking their own rules’ – by Natthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – January 5, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Early in the summer of 2021, Canada’s nuclear safety regulator received alarming news. Inspections had revealed that two pressure tubes from different reactors at Canada’s largest nuclear power plant, the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, had deteriorated far more quickly than expected.

This meant the station’s operator, Bruce Power, had violated the terms of its operating licence. The revelation put the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in a tight spot. How were its leaders to respond?

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Uranium exploration supported in Canadian critical minerals strategy (World Nuclear News – December 13, 2022)

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

The Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy was released on 9 December by Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, who said it will position Canada as “the global supplier of choice for the critical minerals and clean technologies needed for the green, digital global economy”.

Uranium appears on the list of 31 minerals currently considered by Canada to be “critical”. To be on the list, a mineral must either be essential to the country’s economic security and its supply is threatened; required for the national transition to a low-carbon economy; or a sustainable source of highly strategic critical minerals for Canadian partners and allies.

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Uranium-rich Niger struggles despite nuclear resurgence (RFI.fr/en- November 29, 2022)

https://www.rfi.fr/en/

Niamey (Niger) (AFP) – Prospects for the world’s nuclear industry have been boosted by the war in Ukraine and mounting hostility towards climate-wrecking fossil fuels — but Niger, one of the world’s biggest sources of uranium, has yet to feel the improvement.

The deeply impoverished landlocked Sahel state is a major supplier of uranium to the European Union, accounting for a fifth of its supplies, and is especially important to France, its former colonial power. But its mining industry is in the doldrums.

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The nuclear renaissance, reborn: Exploration activities are on the uptick as uranium is, once again, in demand – by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco (CIM Magazine – November 23, 2022)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

After a crushing 11-year downturn, the uranium sector is experiencing the beginning of a revival. Many are hoping that this is the one that turns the sector into a key player in the decarbonized economy of the future.

The last time junior uranium explorers had so much reason to be optimistic was in the years between 2004 and 2008. Duane Parnham, executive chairman and CEO of the Toronto-based uranium junior exploration company Madison Metals, recalls that excitement is what got him into the sector after attending the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) annual convention in 2006.

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Opinion: Nuclear energy — We CANDU it and we should – by Chris Keefer (Financial Post – November 24, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Chris Keefer, a physician, is president of Canadians for Nuclear and director of Doctors for Nuclear Energy.

CANDU, the made-in-Canada nuclear reactor technology that powered the Ontario coal phaseout, North America’s greatest greenhouse-gas reduction, is the victim of a bizarre form of reverse protectionism that favours overseas supply chains and technologies over homegrown ones.

The federal government recently announced a 30 per cent “Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit” to incentivize spending on a range of clean-energy technologies, such as wind, solar and storage.

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