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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

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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OPINION: Canada needs more clean power. Ottawa’s $1-billion for nuclear is just a start – by Editorial (Globe and Mail – October 31, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It’s been three decades since a new nuclear power plant started producing electricity in Canada. Last week, Ottawa put almost $1-billion on the table to kick-start work on the next one.

This time, the technology is American and Japanese, and the power output will be a third of the hulking CANDU reactors of the past. The new technology, a small modular reactor (SMR) that’s never been built in North America, remains unlicensed in Canada, but its backers, Ottawa and Queen’s Park, believe it will be operating in six years at the Darlington nuclear facility northeast of Toronto.

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Poland building its first nuclear power plant is ‘A clear message to Russia: We will not let them weaponize energy any longer’ (Associated Press/Fortune Magazine – October 29, 2022)

https://fortune.com/

Poland has chosen the U.S. government and Westinghouse to build the central European country’s first nuclear power plant, part of an effort to burn less coal and gain greater energy independence.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said late Friday on Twitter that Poland would use the “reliable, safe technology” of the Westinghouse Electric Company for the plant in Pomerania province near the Baltic Sea coast. The exact location remains to be identified.

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OPINION: The climate hypocrisy of rich countries – by Bjorn Lomborg (Globe and Mail – October 31, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Every year, global climate summits feature a parade of hypocrisy, as the world’s elite arrive on private jets to lecture humanity on cutting carbon emissions.

But this November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt will offer even more breathtaking hypocrisy than usual, because the world’s rich will zealously lecture poor countries about the dangers of fossil fuels – after themselves devouring massive amounts of new gas, coal and oil.

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Russia’s Uranium Dominance Threatens America’s Next-Gen Nuclear Plans – by Tsvetana Paraskova (Oil Price.com – Oct 23, 2022)

https://oilprice.com/

The U.S. is doubling down on nuclear power generation as a means to reduce emissions and is supporting demonstration projects of advanced smaller nuclear reactors that promise to be more efficient and cost less to build than the current nuclear fleet.

However, there is one major hurdle to the construction of most advanced reactors under development in the United States—the uranium type of fuel on which those reactors are designed to run is currently sold commercially by only one company in the world. And that company is a subsidiary of Russia’s ROSATOM, the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation.

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Trudeau government’s $1B nuclear reactor investment shows the political bargains that have to be made – by Heather Scoffield (Toronto Star – October 25, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

Ottawa is going nuclear in a big way, putting almost $1 billion into building a new reactor at Darlington, near Toronto. It’s a move that has been years in the making and comes with plenty of controversy — as well as prospects to test a new low-emissions technology to generate electricity, and enough power for 300,000 homes.

It’s the latest sign that Canada’s climate change commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 will have to be a voyage full of political compromise and big bucks that come not just from government but from the private sector.

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‘Saviour for the world:’ Saskatchewan fills resource gaps caused by war in Ukraine – by Kelly Geraldine Malone (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – October 23, 2022)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

With its stable and established resource and agriculture sector, the province has found itself in a position to help fill the global gap caused by the war.

Cameco Corp. is in a position to grow, the president of the Saskatoon-based Uranium giant recently told investors, because a “geopolitical crisis has hit our market” with Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Tim Gitzel was speaking earlier this month after the company announced it had partnered with Brookfield Renewable Partners to acquire Westinghouse Electric, a nuclear power plant equipment maker.

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Uranium Snapshot: Seven juniors searching for the energy metal – by Norm Tollinsky (Northern Miner – October 20, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

As the world looks for low-carbon energy solutions, more nations are coming to the conclusion that nuclear power needs to be part of the mix. Here are seven junior companies looking for the next uranium deposits to power the nuclear renaissance.

BASIN URANIUM

In early September, Basin Uranium (CSE: NCLR, US-OTC: BURCF) announced the intersection of significant uranium mineralization in first-phase drilling at its flagship Mann Lake uranium project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.

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Cameco pivots off volatile uranium market with big bet on Westinghouse – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – October 12, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Cameco is investing $2.2 billion for a 49% stake in Westinghouse Electric, which services nuclear reactors

Decarbonization could end up as a boon for nuclear power, which is capable of generating lots of energy while releasing no carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

But as of today, there are still plenty of headwinds for uranium producers such as Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. So on Tuesday, chief executive Tim Gitzel did something that he hopes will make it easier to push through those headwinds: Cameco said it would invest $2.2 billion for a 49 per cent stake in Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Electric Co., which services nuclear reactors, diversifying Cameco away from the volatile uranium market.

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