“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

JAN 28, 2024

Geologist examining drilling samples at Wedding Bell Project in Colorado, a Thor Energy mining site. Courtesy: Thor Energy

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22 countries want to triple nuclear power. Is there enough uranium to go around?

Ines Ferré

·Senior Business Reporter

Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 10:00 AM PST5 min read

Uranium has been hot this year, industry experts say. The trouble is there may not be enough to go around.

The squeeze on the metal, found in rocks and seawater, intensified recently after 22 countries, including the US, recently signed a pact at the UN Climate Change conference to triple their nuclear power capacity by 2050.

“There’s no other way to meet those net-zero carbon goals other than nuclear energy,” said Nicole Galloway Warland, managing director of Thor Energy (THORF), an exploration company with projects in Utah and Colorado.

The backdrop to all this is, of course, is the march towards cleaner energy. But the rise of EVs and the anticipated power demands of artificial intelligence computing are also going to create a demand crunch for clean electricity — and nuclear is seen as a power source, unlike oil or coal, without the downside of carbon dioxide emissions.

That means the demand for uranium, the underlying fuel for nuclear plants, will be on the rise for years to come, experts and miners contend.

“Where is that uranium going to come from?,” asked Galloway Warland. “There’s not enough to go around. There’s a supply deficit.”

Earlier this month, the world’s largest uranium miner, Kazatomprom (KAP.IL), warned it will likely not meet its production targets in the next two years because of mine construction delays and a lack of sulfuric acid needed for uranium production. Uranium prices shot up to 2007 levels this month, sitting above $106 per pound.

Uranium-related stocks have also been on fire.

Shares of Canadian giant Cameco (CCJ) have gained 83% over the past year. Kazatomprom, which trades on the London stock exchange, is up more than 60% over the past six months. Shares of US-based Energy Fuels (UUUU) are up about 25% during the same period.

‘Uranium is becoming a household name’

A psychological shift surrounding nuclear is clearly helping fuel the market frenzy.

Nuclear power has been out of favor for years. But the Fukushima, Japan, nuclear disaster in 2011 prompted governments to scale back plans and shut down reactors. For much of the last decade, little investment went into the industry. Climate change, however, has changed attitudes.

“Nuclear power now has been realized as the new, vogue way of providing all this baseline power,” Duane Parnham, executive chairman and CEO of Madison Metals (GREN.CN), told Yahoo Finance.

“Uranium is becoming a household name,” he added.

Silicon Valley celeb billionaires, for example, have talked up the benefits of nuclear energy. Last year Sam Altman, the chief executive behind ChatGPT, announced his special purpose acquisition company would take nuclear energy startup Oklo public. And, of course, Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk weighed in. He tweeted last year that “The world should increase use of nuclear power!”

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories (including a bonus category at the end for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity that also play an important role in humanity’s lives) as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links to the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

All Things Nuclear
Nuclear Power
Nuclear War
Nuclear Power Emergencies
Nuclear War Threats
Yellowstone Caldera (There are 3 Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in tonight’s Post.)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (per above). If a category heading does not appear, it means there was no news reported from this category today. There are 3Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available at the end of this Post.

(A reminder, just in case: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS (01/28/2024):

All Things Nuclear

NEW

US reportedly to station nuclear weapons in the UK amid Russia threat – YouTube

YouTube

5 BEST Things I Saw in Vegas at CES 2024. Undecided with Matt Ferrell New … Tesla Model 3 SUB-ZERO Range Test: We All Know That EV Range Is Bad In …

Iran launches three satellites into space as tensions rise | WJCT News 89.9

WJCT News

Meanwhile, Western nations remain worried about Iran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program. Footage released by Iranian state television showed a …

Iran launches three satellites into space as tensions rise – Little Rock Public Radio

Little Rock Public Radio

Next Up: 3:00 PM All Things Considered … “These concerns are reinforced by Iran’s continued nuclear escalation beyond all credible civilian …