Uranium stocks

Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. Uranium has the highest atomic weight (19 kg m) of all naturally occurring elements.

Uranium is used to power commercial nuclear reactors that produce electricity and to produce isotopes used for medical, industrial, and defense purposes around the world.

(by market cap)                        
Ticker  Company name Mkt Cap (USD)▼

ETFs: URNM, URA

1. NXE  NexGen Energy 1.396B; Canada
2. DNN   Denison Mines  508.567M; Canada
3. UUUU  Energy Fuels   573.871M; Colorado, USA

++URG

++UEC

++CCJ

Uranium

Uranium is the fuel most widely used by nuclear power plants for nuclear fission. Uranium is a common metal found in rocks all over the world. Uranium occurs in combination with small amounts of other elements. There are economically recoverable uranium deposits in the western United States, Australia, Canada, Central Asia, Africa, and South America.

  

Owners and operators of U.S. nuclear power reactors purchased the equivalent of about 48 million pounds of uranium in 2019.

Canada, Kazakhstan, Australia, Russia and a few other countries now supply most of America’s nuclear fuel.

• In 2020 Kazakhstan produced the largest share of uranium from mines (41% of world supply), followed by Australia (13%) and Canada (8%).

• Dec 2020:  Congress approved $75 million in funding for the launch of a U.S. strategic uranium reserve.  In addition to direct buying of uranium from companies like Denison and Energy Fuels, the signing of the stimulus bill promises to pump as much as $11 billion in federal money into the nuclear power industry in general, including by modernizing power plants and researching new types of reactors. That's good news for the uranium producers.

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The uranium market has been in a funk ever since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Fukushima is in the Tōhoku region of Japan, a couple of hundred kilometers north of Tokyo. It has been reeling not just from the earthquake and tsunami, but from the clean-up of the nuclear plant site. 

Japan used to get 40% of their energy from nuclear power, pre-Fukushima. Few Japanese nuclear plants have come back on-line in the interim, with LNG and coal providing the bridge fuel. 

The country with the highest % of power produced from nuclear power is France at > 70%. 

99 reactors in the USA provide 20% of the USA energy needs. Globally, nuclear power is a stable 10% of the global energy mix.

• Sources and shares of total U.S. purchases of uranium in 2019 were
• Canada21%
• Kazakhstan18%
• Australia18%
• Russia15%
• Uzbekistan9%
• Namibia5%
• Niger2%
• U.S. and 12 other countries combined12%

Fun fact: You might recall the term yellow cake from the Uranium One scandal where it was alleged that Hillary Clinton brokered a deal for 20% of the US uranium reserves to Russia for a $145mm “donation” to the Clinton Foundation. The allegations have not been proven, I might add. Yellow cake, also called Urania, is “semi-processed” uranium (post mining, but before fuel fabrication or uranium enrichment).

More info:

• https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-of-uranium/world-uranium-mining-production.aspx

Nuclear power

Nuclear power generates electricity by harnessing the power of atoms and the energy stored in their chemical bonds. When atoms split, they release energy. A nuclear plant works by splitting atoms and using the energy released by them in a controlled environment. 

Nuclear power is carbon-free, but it can be controversial with the prospect of radiation leaks and a history of disasters. 

• The uranium market has been in a funk ever since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. 
• Few Japanese nuclear plants have come back on-line in the interim, with LNG and coal providing the bridge fuel. 

The 447 global active nuclear reactors (99 reactors in the USA provide 20% of the USA energy needs) require 140 million lbs. of U308 uranium per annum. 

Nuclear reactors under construction, 2019.

1. China: 13
2. India: 7
3. South Korea: 5
4. Russia: 4
5. UAE: 4
6. Bangladesh: 2
7. Belarus: 2
8. Japan: 2
9. Pakistan: 2
10. Slovakia: 2
11. US: 2
12. Argentina: 1
13. Finland: 1
14. France: 1
15. Turkey: 1
16. UK: 1

(World Nuclear Association)

The Taishan nuclear power plant in the Chinese province of Guangdong.

Top Nuclear Energy Stocks

Oklo (OKLO) -- focused on the emerging small modular reactor, or SMR, technology. The startup is looking to bring its first commercial SMR online in late 2027 or early 2028.

No operating SMRs now exist, but a number of companies are developing the technology. SMRs aim to provide power at the company level, drastically reducing the time and cost of permitting, constructing and operating full-scale nuclear facilities.

Other  SMR-focused plays NuScale Power (SMR) and Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE)

GE Vernova (GEV), Uranium Energy (UEC), (LTBR), Energy Fuels (UUUU)

1.      US Ecology Inc (ECOL)

Market Cap: $1.39 billion
Performance: 25.2% annual return
2.      FirstEnergy Corp (FE)

Market Cap: $19.83 billion
Performance: 19.15% annual return
3.      Nextera Energy Inc (NEE)

Market Cap: $84.99 billion
Performance: 12.08% annual return
4.      Exelon Corporation (EXC)

Market Cap: $45.89 billion
Performance: 12% annual return
5.      Ameren Corp (AEE)

Market Cap: $16.82 billion
Performance: 8.8% annual return

BWX Technologies (BWXT), the U.S. Navy's main nuclear reactor supplier

Uranium emerges from Fukushima shadow

Uranium prices may have stopped falling 3 1/2 years after an accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan curtailed demand, according to Julian Emanuel, an equity and derivatives strategist at UBS AG.

The mineral’s price increased as much as 18 percent through yesterday from a low of $28 a pound in May. The move reflects prices for swap contracts linked to uranium futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The rebound followed a 59 percent drop since an earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in March 2011. Japan’s nuclear-power generators were shut down afterward, and the government has failed to get them restarted.

“Geopolitical tensions” in Russia, Ukraine and other countries are behind the reversal, Emanuel wrote in a report two days ago. The New York-based strategist featured a similar chart in his research.

Kazakhstan, which counts Russia as its second-largest trading partner after China, is the world’s largest uranium producer. The country suspended mine-expansion projects last November because of falling prices. Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday that KazAtomProm, the state-controlled mining company, might lose its investment-grade credit rating as a result of “weak pricing” and other issues.

The recovery may benefit from the shutdown of a Canadian mine and mill owned by Cameco Corp., according to Raymond James and Cantor Fitzgerald. The plants were idled last weekend after the company failed to reach agreement on a contract with union workers. Cameco is the world’s second-largest uranium producer after KazAtomProm, according to the World Nuclear Association.