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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

No, California shouldn’t extend the life of its last nuclear plant. There are better ways to fight climate change – Editorial (December 12, 2021)

https://www.latimes.com/

California is approaching an energy crossroads. In three years, its last nuclear plant will begin to power down and the state will lose its largest single source of emissions-free electricity.

A 2018 law requires state regulators to “avoid any increase in greenhouse gases” as a result of closing the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on the Central Coast. But if they don’t move more quickly to replace its electricity with renewable energy from wind, solar and geothermal, the void will almost certainly be filled by burning more natural gas, which increased last year to account for nearly half of California’s in-state electricity generation.

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How a less-than six-month-old fund shook the nuclear fuel market – by Emily Graffeo (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Six months ago, the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust didn’t exist. Now it holds almost a third of the world’s annual supply — and it’s getting bigger.

The fund’s arrival and explosive growth are sending waves through the market for nuclear fuels and have helped spur a 50% rally in uranium this year. Sprott reports that its assets have swelled to $1.9 billion, forcing the product to almost double its financing limit two weeks ago to $3.5 billion — the second time it’s had to raise it in two months.

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The cyclical surge of uranium: The demand for carbon-free energy is powering an increase in uranium mining projects – by Angelica Zagorski (CIM Magazine -December 06, 2021)

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

Nuclear power will play a major role in helping to increase electrification while also phasing out carbon-intensive sources of energy. Governments have been reluctant to support nuclear power because of its rising costs since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, and its potential environmental impacts.

But with the world realizing the imminence of the climate emergency, many are seeing uranium’s potential of providing reliable low-carbon electricity, which has been a big boost for developers and miners.

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OPINION: In Northern Ontario, governments engage in a two-faced climate change response – by Tanya Talaga (Globe and Mail – December 3, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

As land defenders work to prevent a pipeline from ripping through Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia, cast your eyes to Northern Ontario, where First Nations are also trying to push back against colonial governments looking to plunder the land.

Just a month after Canada talked a good game at the United Nations’ COP26 climate summit – but many years after Indigenous people first sounded alarms about the perils of what Canadians were doing to the land – two potential climate change catastrophes are playing out on Treaty 3, Robinson Superior and Treaty 9 territories. That territory comprises most of the area in Ontario north of Lake Superior.

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OPINION: If we’re serious about reducing emissions, it’s time for a new look at nuclear energy – by Marcus Gee (Globe and Mail – November 27, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s biggest city is fortunate to have two founts of clean, green, plentiful energy just down the road. One, of course, is Niagara Falls. Water diverted from the towering cataract to hydroelectric turbines has been keeping lights lit in Toronto for more than a century.

The other, less-heralded source is the two massive nuclear power plants that stand just east of the city at Pickering and Darlington. Though much of the city’s juice comes from there, most people barely give them a thought.

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Global Atomic to break ground at Niger uranium mine in January – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com -November 18, 2021)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Uranium developer Global Atomic would move ahead with construction of its Dasa uranium project, in Niger, and would break ground in January, president and CEO Stephen Roman said this week, announcing the results of its feasibility study.

The study confirmed that the Dasa project was economically compelling, even at a price of C$35/lb of uranium oxide. The decision to proceed was based on the feasibility study, the strong uranium market and anticipated supply deficits, the company stated.

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Greenland bans uranium mining, blocking vast rare earths project – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 10, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Greenland’s parliament has passed a bill to ban uranium mining and exploration in the Danish territory, effectively blocking the development of the vast Kvanefjeld rare earths project, one of the world’s biggest.

The project was being developed by Australia’s Greenland Minerals (ASX: GGG). It was granted preliminary approval in 2020 and was on track to gain the previous government’s final endorsement.

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China’s Climate Goals Hinge on a $440 Billion Nuclear Buildout – by Dan Murtaugh and Krystal chia (Bloomberg News – November 2, 2021)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Nuclear power once seemed like the world’s best hope for a carbon-neutral future. After decades of cost-overruns, public protests and disasters elsewhere, China has emerged as the world’s last great believer, with plans to generate an eye-popping amount of nuclear energy, quickly and at relatively low cost.

China has over the course of the year revealed the extensive scope of its plans for nuclear, an ambition with new resonance given the global energy crisis and the calls for action coming out of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow.

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Scientists pour cold water on Bill Gates’ nuclear plans – by Jo Harper (DW.com – November 11, 2021)

https://www.dw.com/en/

Bill Gates’ nuclear energy firm TerraPower and power company PacifiCorp — owned by Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway — teamed up in September 2020 to launch the Natrium project. It’s about a small modular reactor they say will be commercially viable by 2030.

Many countries are weighing smaller, so-called modular, nuclear reactors as a way backing up low emission energy production during the transition from fossil fuel dependence to one based on renewable energy sources.

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Mining test showcases SABRE potential (World Nuclear News – November 4, 2021)

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

SABRE is a non-entry, surface-based mining method that uses a high-pressure water jet placed at the bottom of a drill hole to excavate a mining cavity. The cuttings from the excavation process are then air lifted to the surface, separated and stockpiled. The method is the culmination of a mining equipment invention and development initiative that began in 2004.

Denison and Orano – the joint venture partners in McClean Lake Joint Venture (MLJV) – said the final stage of a five-year field test was completed from May to September 2021 with four mining cavities successfully excavated to produce around 1500 tonnes of “high-value” ore with grades in the range of 4%-11% U3O8.

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China’s Climate Goals Hinge on a $440 Billion Nuclear Buildout – by Dan Murtaugh and Krystal Chia (Bloomberg News – November 2, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Nuclear power once seemed like the world’s best hope for a carbon-neutral future. After decades of cost-overruns, public protests and disasters elsewhere, China has emerged as the world’s last great believer, with plans to generate an eye-popping amount of nuclear energy, quickly and at relatively low cost.

China has over the course of the year revealed the extensive scope of its plans for nuclear, an ambition with new resonance given the global energy crisis and the calls for action coming out of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow.

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Abandoning Nuclear Power Would Be Europe’s Biggest Climate Mistake – by Jonathon Ford (Bloomberg News – October 28, 2021)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Until 2011, Paul Bossens was an entrepreneur quietly running a small IT business in Leuven, not far from the Belgian capital of Brussels.

Aside from an interest in the environment — he’s an enthusiast for electric cars who delights in his shiny gull-wing Tesla Model X — Bossens, 68, wouldn’t have called himself politically committed. “I was never really one to be an activist or a protester,” he says.

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Serpent River First Nation (SRFN) acid plant still an environmental issue after 64 years – by Leslie Knibbs (Sudbury Star – October 28, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

In 1957, the Cutler acid plant opened in Serpent River First Nation (SRFN) after the Canadian government negotiated a 99-year lease with mining company Noranda Mines, which was at the time involved in the uranium mining industry in Elliot Lake. The plant was established to process uranium from Elliot Lake’s mines.

SRFN member, Lianne Leddy documented the story of the effects of the acid plant in her book, ‘Serpent River Resurgence.’

Lianne Leddy, a member of SRFN and professor from Wilfred Laurier University said in a recent interview, “When the plant was in operation, the fumes caused deforestation in the area, damage to roofs, community gardens, cars and even holes in the laundry drying out on the line.

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No. 1 uranium miner backs physical fund in nod to robust demand – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – October 18, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium miner, is backing a new uranium fund that aims to invest in the radioactive metal used to power nuclear reactors.

ANU Energy OEIC Ltd. was established as a fund to hold physical uranium as a long-term investment, with initial purchases financed from a $50 million investment by Kazatomprom, the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and United Arab Emirates-based fund manager Genchi Global Ltd., Kazakhstan’s national atomic company said in a Monday statement.

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In Global Energy Crisis, Anti-Nuclear Chickens Come Home to Roost – by Ted Nordhaus (Foreign Policy – October 8, 2021)

https://foreignpolicy.com/

In virtually every country that has closed nuclear plants, clean electricity has been replaced with dirty power.

For years, the proponents of wind and solar energy have promised us a green future with electricity too cheap to meter, new energy infrastructure with little environmental impact on the land, and deep cuts in carbon emissions.

But despite the rapid growth of renewable energy, that future has yet to materialize. Instead, many of the places that are furthest along in transitioning to renewable energy are today facing a crisis of power shortages, sky-high electricity prices, and flat or rising carbon emissions.

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