Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry – Page 20

Uranium ‘has to be part’ of electrification, says Dev Randhawa – by Henry Lazenby and Amanda Stutt (Northern Miner – January 31, 2022)

February 1, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

The continued industrialization and urbanization of the global economy have thrust energy security back to the fore. According to uranium industry doyen Dev Randhawa, it creates a perfect storm to bring nuclear energy back into its critical role as the baseline power supply in a world increasingly reliant on unreliable renewable power sources such as solar and wind.

“If you simply take the math of how much electricity we need, how fast China and India are growing, and we want to electrify everything we can, it [uranium] has to be part of it,” Randhawa said in an interview.

OPINION: Angela Merkel’s dubious energy legacy haunts and divides Germany as tensions over Ukraine rise – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – January 29, 2022)

January 31, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Germany is the weak link in the Western effort to hit Russia with a tough array of sanctions if it invades Ukraine. How did that happen? Blame Angela Merkel.

The former chancellor who led the German government for 16 years until her retirement in December, always took a pragmatic, not ideological, approach to ties with Russia and Vladimir Putin, its President.

[Ukraine/Russia Conflict] Germany’s Folly Preview – by Diane Francis (Diane Francis Website – January 27, 2022)

January 31, 2022

https://dianefrancis.substack.com/

Germany, normally considered one of the world’s smartest nations, rang in 2022 by pulling the plug on three of its last six nuclear plants and plans to close the rest by the end of 2022.

This policy to de-nuclearize the country has been a disaster and made the country dependent on Russia for energy, putting both Europe and the West at risk. Germany is Europe’s largest consumer of electricity and natural gas, the fifth-largest consumer of oil in the world, and more than half of all its energy comes from Russia.

Secret Cities and Atomic Tourism – by Tim Leffel (Perspective Travel – No Date)

January 25, 2022

https://www.perceptivetravel.com/

In the race to develop the atomic bomb that would end World War II, scientists toiled in instant cities hidden from maps and public view. Our editor dives into the world of experimental reactors and prefab housing to revisit a time when secret places could really stay secret.

Imagine you work in a city that isn’t on any map, in a house that has no postal address. You go to work each day not really knowing the purpose of what you are doing or how it fits into the jobs of the thousands of other people going to work each day around you.

‘The Mothership’ at the pulsing heart of a town’s growth gone nuclear – by Joe O’Connor (Financial Post – January 19, 2022)

January 20, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Influx of investment at Bruce Power, located near Lake Huron beach country, has ignited the economic fortunes of the surrounding area

The American industrial heartland was reeling in the early 1980s, battered by a recession and the great rusting out of the country’s steel industry, among others. Once mighty one-industry towns, such as Weirton, WV, bled away good-paying, blue-collar jobs.

Walter Rencheck, a 58-year-old steelworker, was one of the casualties. To help bridge the gap between being forced into early retirement at the steel mill and collecting Social Security, he asked his son, Mike — a bright, young electrical engineer dreaming of broader horizons — to put those dreams on hold to support the family and take a job at the nearby nuclear plant in Slovan, Penn.

Global Atomic releases drill results from Dasa uranium project in Niger – by Naimul Karim (Northern Miner – January 19, 2022)

January 20, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

Drill results from the Zone 3 extension at Global Atomic’s (TSX: GLO; US-OTC: GLATF) Dasa uranium project in Niger have “exceeded expectations,” CEO Stephen Roman says.

The drilling outlined continuous mineralization over a strike length of 300 metres long by 80 metres wide with highlights of 65 metres grading 5,493 parts per million e-triuranium oxide (eU308) starting from 434.40 metres downhole in drill hole ASDH592 and 99.80 metres grading 2,615 parts per million eU308 starting from 478.60 metres downhole in drill hole ASDH589.

If nuclear power is the key to Canada’s green future, Ottawa needs to say so — now – by Heather Scoffield (Toronto Star – January 14, 2022)

January 18, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

There was an awkward moment in Glasgow at the beginning of November when Justin Trudeau spoke out in favour of using nuclear energy to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Awkward because Steven Guilbeault — his new environment minister, whom the prime minister had paraded around the global climate summit as proof that he was serious about confronting climate change — had said something much vaguer just a day earlier.

Uranium price rally spurs first exploration increase since 2011 – by Camille Erickson (SPG Global – January 13, 2022)

January 14, 2022

https://www.spglobal.com/

Uranium mining companies reversed a 10-year decline in exploration budgets in 2021 and funding is poised to rise further in 2022 as companies aim to capitalize on higher yellowcake prices and a rosier demand outlook.

Uranium exploration budgets rose 10.7% year over year in 2021, with Canada leading the pack and budgeting $67 million, followed by the U.S. at $10.1 million, according to S&P Global Capital IQ data.

Kazakhstan President orders mining companies to pay higher taxes – by Zachary Skidmore (Mining Technology – January 12, 2022)

January 13, 2022

https://www.mining-technology.com/

On Tuesday, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered his government to levy higher taxes on mining companies within Kazakhstan. In a speech to parliament, Tokayev stated: “The income of firms in the mining sector has grown against the backdrop of higher prices for raw materials.”

The boom in income for miners came after prices of industrial metals surged in the last year. The Central Asian state holds vast mineral reserves, possessing 30% of the world’s chrome ore reserves, 25% of manganese ore, 10% of iron ore, 5.5% of copper, 10% of lead, and 13% of zinc, according to official estimates.

Opinion: Kazakhstan unrest underlines Australia’s uranium advantage – by Duncan Craib (Australian Financial Review – January 10, 2022)

January 11, 2022

https://www.afr.com/

The world is decarbonising and Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to capitalise on the inevitable surge in global uranium demand that will accompany it.

Global financial institutions are taking a new look at the Australian uranium sector, and with good reason. Civil unrest over the past week in Kazakhstan – the world’s largest exporter of uranium – and the consequent impact on uranium prices highlights the geopolitical sensitivity of the commodity.

Germany Quitting Nuclear Doesn’t Doom the Energy Transition – by Akshat Rathi and Will Mathis (Bloomberg News – January 11, 2022)

January 11, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) The last few months have been a rollercoaster for energy markets in Europe. Even before winter began, traders were freaking out that the continent might run out of natural gas before spring. Some even bought the fuel at 10 times the average price in 2020.

In the middle of all that, Germany moved ahead with a plan to shut off nearly 50% of its nuclear power plants, with the rest scheduled to close by the end of 2022.

West needs to step up supply of copper for the energy transition – by John Dizard (Financial Times – January 7, 2022)

January 10, 2022

https://www.ft.com/

Does the energy transition need a “Circular 5”? Back in the late 1940s the US Atomic Energy Commission fretted that it could not procure enough uranium on the private market to meet the requirements of its nuclear weapons production programmes.

The initial supply of Congolese uranium for the wartime Manhattan project had been scavenged in late 1942 from a warehouse in Staten Island, NY, where it had been sent in 1940 by an anti-Nazi Belgian businessman.

Shunned after Fukushima, nuclear industry hopes smaller reactors can play role in energy transition – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – December 21, 2021)

December 22, 2021December 22, 2021

https://financialpost.com/

At the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, a large part of Ken Darlington’s job involves convincing the public that the latest generation of nuclear technology is safe — so safe, in fact, that it can be mass produced.

The USNC-Power, as the U.S.-based company is known in Canada, is developing the smallest nuclear reactors around — designed to produce enough power to provide electricity for about 5,000 homes, or roughly five megawatts. If all goes according to Darlington’s plans, as vice president of corporate development in Canada, there could be around 100 reactors around the country in two decades.

Small northwestern Ontario town considers if it’s willing to house nuclear waste from across Canada – by Jeff Walters (CBC News Thunder Bay – December 15, 2021)

December 15, 2021

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

A small town in northwestern Ontario is facing a big question: How to determine whether people in the community want to host a site that would store nearly 5.5 million spent nuclear fuel bundles from across Canada.

The issue’s been ongoing for years in Ignace, with a population of about 1,300, 250 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay. But now, it’s one of two communities left in the search by Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to find a host community for its proposed deep geological repository.

Global Atomic breaks ground early, targets yellowcake sales in early 2025 – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – December 13, 2021)

December 14, 2021

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Canadian project developer Global Atomic has broken ground at its Dasa uranium project, in Niger, almost two months ahead of schedule. The board in November made a production decision to proceed with the Dasa project, after a feasibility study determined that the project was economically viable at a base price assumption of $35/lb.

“With the activity already occurring at site, we have broken ground almost two months ahead of schedule. The team is growing and fully engaged at site, with the goal of building our mine and mill to produce yellowcake for sale by January 2025,” CEO Stephen Roman reported on Monday.