Commodities | Feb 02 2016
By Greg Peel
2015 featured the first post-Fukushima restarts of Japanese reactors as initially Kyushu Electric’s Sendai 1 came on line, followed by Sendai 2. Last week saw Kansai Electric’s Takahama 3 become the third reactor to be restarted, with Takahama 4 due to fire up this month.
Not only did the 2011 Fukushima disaster shut down Japan’s nuclear capacity, it led to more stringent safety requirements in the world’s fastest growing adopter of nuclear energy – China. This slowed the process of reactor approval but this week the Chinese government suggested an earlier target of 58GW of nuclear capacity by 2020 can still be achieved. China currently has 30 operating reactors and 24 under construction.
In other demand-side news last week, Electricite de France announced it has signed an agreement to take over long delayed construction of six reactors in western India, which could become the world’s biggest nuclear contract. This goes some way to alleviating EDF’s disappointment in having to delay final approval for construction of the Hinkley Point reactor in the UK.
All up, the global demand side for uranium looks very healthy, but it’s all about the medium to longer term. In the short term, utilities remain well supplied. Activity in the spot market was particularly slow last week, industry consultant TradeTech reports, featuring only four transactions totalling 500,000lbs U3O8 equivalent.
The majority of any buying interest remains limited to traders and speculators. TradeTech’s weekly spot price indicator has fallen US10c to US$34.65/lb.
One transaction was reported in term markets last week, but only for 500,000lbs mid-term. Meanwhile, two utilities have tenders out for mid and longer term delivery of 10.5mlbs and 9.4mlbs respectively, TradeTech reports.
TradeTech’s term price indicators remain unchanged at US$36.00/lb (mid) and US$44.00/lb (long).
Find out why FNArena subscribers like the service so much: "Your Feedback (Thank You)" – Warning this story contains unashamedly positive feedback on the service provided.