Top miner Kazatomprom buys uranium as inventory under pressure

Kazatomprom KZAP.KZ, KAPq.L, the world’s No. 1 uranium miner, has started buying the metal on the spot market and may purchase more this year to replenish its stock after the coronavirus pandemic upended the global market, it said on Thursday. Supply disruptions have accelerated the rebalancing of the nuclear fuel market, pushing up the spot price and prompting …

Cameco: A Gamble On Rising Uranium Prices

Summary Cameco’s profitability relies on uranium pricing moving up from current cycle lows. COVID-19 has interrupted Cameco’s production and has added more uncertainty to global supply. Demand for nuclear energy and reactor construction has slowed in western nations in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. The bull case for uranium demand growth hinges on a …

First reactor of Belarusian nuclear power plant loaded with fuel

All the nuclear fuel has been loaded into the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. Physical launch operations continue, BelTA learned from Vigen Marukhyan, Head of the Nuclear Safety Regulation Office of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor), on 20 August. According to the source, as of …

Kazatomprom to maintain uranium output cuts through 2022

Kazatomprom KZAP.KZ, KAPq.L, the world’s biggest uranium miner, will keep its output reduced by 20% through 2022, it said on Wednesday, in order to help the market recover. “The decision to keep production similar year-over-year, and extend production curtailment into 2022, is indicative of a global uranium market that is still recovering from a long period of …

What Will A Biden-Harris Administration Do For Nuclear Energy?

Probably more than the last five administrations, including the present one. That’s because nuclear energy can’t shine on the climate and low-carbon front until we actually have a climate plan we follow, something that has been lacking. As the Democratic Convention begins today, it is good to remember that all the leading climate scientists say we cannot …

Permit to construct Egypt’s Dabaa Nuclear Power Station may be issued late in 2021

Chairman of the Nuclear Plants Agency Amgad al-Wakil told Egypt Today that the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) is expected to issue the permit to construct Dabaa Nuclear Power Station in the second half of 2021. Wakil pointed out that the agency applied for the permit on March 10, 2019, and that it …

Wylfa backers ready for quick restart on nuclear power plant

Backers of the £20bn Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant on Anglesey are poised to restart work, as “detailed conversations” get underway with government. Horizon Nuclear Power chief executive Duncan Hawthorne has revealed that conversations with government about a new funding mechanism are ongoing. Enabling work at the site was suspended in January 2019 after Hitachi, …

Looking beyond Hinkley Point C

IN JUNE, EDF ENERGY ANNOUNCED it had completed the 49,000-metric-tonne concrete basemat for the second EPR reactor at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. The milestone was achieved “on schedule”, despite the coronavirus pandemic and a reduction of “more than half” in the number of workers on site since March. Completion came less than a year …

X-Energy submits its SMR for Canadian Vendor Design Review

US company X-energy announced on 11 August  that it had initiated a Vendor Design Review (VDR) for its Xe-100 small modular reactor (SMR) design with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). In preparing to site the advanced nuclear technology reactors in Canada, with partners across the Canadian supply chain, X-energy has found the ideal environment …