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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

Nuclear power industry sees ‘huge potential’ for growth in Saskatchewan – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Financial Post – November 30, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Province is starting to look to nuclear power to fill the void left by the departure of coal

Saskatchewan is one of a number of jurisdictions starting to look to nuclear power to fill the void left by the departure of coal and other carbon-emitting fuels as the push to decarbonize electricity production ramps up.

The expansion of nuclear power generation means serious growth potential for some players in the industry, including Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, a Pennsylvania-based specialist in building nuclear reactors bought by Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. in 2023.

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The fight’s not over, say anti-nuclear First Nations – by Mike Stimpson (NWONewswatch/Northern Ontario Business – November 29, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Onigaming chief says he received many phone calls after the NWMO selection of Ignace-Wabigoon area as nuclear waste repository site

Onigaming First Nation Chief Jeff Copenace says his Ojibwe community has reacted with strong emotions to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s decision to build a nuclear waste facility in the Ignace-Wabigoon area of northwestern Ontario.

“My reaction is a little bit of anger, a little bit of sadness, but I’m not sure that I’m surprised,” Copenace said Nov. 28 just hours after the NWMO announced its selection of the Revell Lake site for its deep geological repository project.

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Possible tariffs worry Canada uranium miners as they boost output to meet US demand – by Divya Rajagopal, Ernest Scheyder and Timothy Gardener (Reuters – November 28, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Canada’s uranium miners, confident that only they can meet US demand for the element after Russian supply curbs, have accelerated output and forward contracts to supply US energy companies, but they are now worried about possible tariffs from US President-elect Donald Trump.

Shares of uranium companies rallied in Toronto and New York over the last two weeks on news that Russia was planning to restrict the sale of enriched uranium to the US. This week, Trump threatened to slap a 25% tariff on all goods from Canada and Mexico. This could inflate prices of the radioactive material unless uranium receives exemptions.

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Paladin’s Fission Takeover Is Delayed by Canada Security Review – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – November 19, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada’s federal government is extending a national security review of Paladin Energy Ltd.’s acquisition of Fission Uranium Corp., further delaying a deal that was supposed to close in September.

Australia’s Paladin Energy said Tuesday it received a notice from Canada’s industry ministry that the government’s review period for the transaction, proposed in June, will be extended until Dec. 30. The company also warned that the deal could fall apart.

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Russia temporarily limits nuclear-fuel shipments to US – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – November 15, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Russia is temporarily limiting exports of enriched uranium to the US, creating potential supply risks to utilities operating American reactors that generate almost a fifth of the country’s electricity.

The Russian government didn’t provide details of the restrictions or their duration in a Friday statement on Telegram. Utilities tend to make purchases well in advance, so any impact is unlikely to be immediate.

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Why Canada could become the next nuclear energy ‘superpower’ – by Nadine Yousif (BBC.com – November 13, 2024)

https://www.bbc.com/

Uranium is making a comeback thanks to a renewed focus on nuclear energy as a climate crisis solution. Canada, rich with high-grade deposits, could become a nuclear “superpower”. But can its potential be realised?

Leigh Curyer had been working in uranium mining for nearly two decades when he noticed a striking shift. In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan badly damaged the world’s view of nuclear power, and the price for the heavy metal – a critical component for nuclear fuel – cratered.

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Niger embraces Russia for uranium production leaving France out in the cold (RFI France – November 13, 2024)

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

Niger has called on Russian firms to directly invest in uranium and other natural resource production, following the collapse of relations with former colonial ruler France and the eviction of French nuclear giant Orano from the country

Niger’s recent diplomatic shift away from France towards Russia has marked a turning point in the nation’s resource management strategy, particularly concerning its abundant uranium reserves.

Following the military coup in July 2023, which resulted in the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s military junta has been taking increasingly bold steps to redefine its international partnerships, especially in the critical mining sector.

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Paladin Energy’s Fission deal in limbo as Ottawa probes national security implications of China influence – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 11, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Investors are unsure whether Australia-based Paladin Energy Ltd.’s proposed acquisition of Fission Uranium Corp. will succeed, as Ottawa conducts a make-or-break national security review on the transaction, with Chinese influence under scrutiny on both sides of the deal.

In June, Paladin reached a friendly agreement to buy Kelowna, B.C.-based Fission in an all-stock transaction worth $1.14-billion. Fission is developing the Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium project in the Athabasca Basin region of Saskatchewan, which is projected to eventually account for about 5 per cent of global supply.

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Opinion: Canada and the Three Seas Initiative: Energy security through nuclear co-operation – by George Christidis and Heather Exner-Pirot (Globe and Mail – November 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

George Christidis is the interim chief executive of the Canadian Nuclear Association. Heather Exner-Pirot is the director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Advocates of nuclear energy tout its environmental and economic benefits, but there are also compelling geopolitical reasons to pursue nuclear.

Energy security concerns have thrust nuclear forward as a critical solution for many countries traditionally dependent on, or integrated with, Russian nuclear energy and gas supplies. Their desire to disentangle their energy systems from Russia presents Canada the opportunity to use its nuclear expertise and supply chain to contribute to European energy security.

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Global Atomic anticipates $295m loan for Dasa project by Q1 2025 – by Staff (Mining.com – October 29, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Global Atomic (TSX: GLO) said on Tuesday it anticipates securing a project financing loan from the US development bank by early Q1 2025 to advance its Dasa uranium project in Niger.

The company reported that in recent discussions, the bank confirmed its intention to approve a $295 million debt facility, which would cover 60% of the project’s projected costs. Dasa is the highest-grade uranium deposit in Africa, surpassed only by grades found in Canada’s Athabasca Basin, and is scheduled to achieve commercial production in early 2026.

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Utah has the last conventional uranium mill in the country. What does it do? – by Anastasia Hufham (Salt Lake Tribune – October 7, 2024)

https://www.sltrib.com/

The mill’s owner and regulators say there’s no evidence its uranium processing is causing contamination. But a nearby tribe and others fear the impacts of increased demand.

San Juan County – Trucks filled with thousands of pounds of rock roll up a paved road, the namesake twin buttes of Bears Ears National Monument visible in the distance on a clear day. The dark gray rock is uranium ore headed to the White Mesa Mill in Utah’s rural San Juan County — the last remaining “conventional” uranium mill in the United States.

The country’s other 14 uranium recovery sites solely process rock from the site where they’re located. This leaves White Mesa as the only American uranium mill still accepting ore and other radioactive materials from around the country and the world.

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Why this town in the Northwest Territories was called the ‘Village of Widows’ – by Nina Dragicevic (CBC Docs – October 25, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/

The discovery of a rare rock amidst the tundra of Canada’s Far North nearly 100 years ago set in motion one of mankind’s most destructive legacies: Decades of mining, workers getting sick and, finally, a pair of atomic bombs that killed tens of thousands of civilians in an instant — and changed the world forever.

As author and professor Peter van Wyck says in the documentary Atomic Reaction: “This is a piece of Canadian history that doesn’t get talked about much.” It all started near Délı̨nę, a community on Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories, where the Sahtu Dene people have lived for thousands of years. Originally a nomadic people, they started settling more firmly at Délı̨nę in the 1940s.

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[Niger Mining] Orano suspends operations at Arlit (World Nuclear News – October 24, 2024)

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

Major financial difficulties facing SOMAÏR, the operator of the Arlit uranium mine in Niger, have led to the decision to suspend its activities from the end of October.

The French company said the financial difficulties which have been facing its 63.4%-owned subsidiary since July 2023 – when then-President of Niger Mohamed Bazoum was deposed in a coup d’état – have continued to grow. Niger’s border with Benin, through which uranium concentrates produced at Arlit are exported – has remained closed since the events of July 2023.

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Who will pay for Ontario’s radioactive past? – by Aya Dufour (CBC News Features – October 15, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

One northern remediation project illustrates the complexity of the issue

If not for the fences and the signs, nothing’s obviously threatening about the radioactive waste that has plagued Nipissing First Nation for decades. It looks like sandy soil peppered with small rocks. Behind the benign appearance, however, are niobium and other naturally occurring radioactive materials that were left behind by a defunct mining operation dating back to the early days of the Cold War.

With the company long gone and the Ministry of Mines busy remediating and monitoring the other 5,865 abandoned mining projects in Ontario, the waste has just sat there for 67 years.

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Rio Tinto to take over Ranger uranium mine cleanup – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 15, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto will carry out the rehabilitation of the closed Ranger uranium mine in Australia’s Northern Territory, a government body has ruled.

The Takeovers Panel’s decision ends a long-running dispute over whether Rio Tinto or its majority owned uranium producer Energy Resources of Australia (ASX: ERA) would assume the site restoration’s costs. It also clears the way for Rio to assume full control of the uranium producer via the company’s capital raising, announced in August.

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