Market

THE URANIUM MARKET

Nuclear needs to double by 2050 to achieve the Paris Accord 1.5°C goal¹

Nuclear energy now provides about 10% of the world's electricity from 443 power reactors.
Nuclear is the world's second largest source of low-carbon power (29% of the total in 2018).
Over 50 countries utilize nuclear energy in about 220 research reactors. In addition to research, these reactors are used for the production of medical and industrial isotopes, as well as for training.

Reactors are also critical for marine propulsion where it has played an important role in the world's major navies for five decades in submarines and large surface vessels. Over 160 ships, mostly submarines, are propelled by some 200 nuclear reactors and over 13,000 reactor years of experience have been gained with marine reactors.
Russia also operates a fleet of large nuclear-powered icebreakers and has more under construction. It has also connected a floating nuclear power plant with two 32 MWe reactors to the grid in the remote arctic region of Pevek.

U.S.A ²

93 Reactors

19.7% of the country’s power

CANADA ²

19 Reactors

14.6% of the country’s power

FRANCE ²

56 Reactors

70.6% of the country’s power

CHINA ²

54 Reactors

4.9% of the country’s power

At the start of 2021, 16 of the 54 reactors under construction globally were in China.

INDIA ²

23 Reactors

3.3% of the country’s power

At the start of 2020 seven reactors were under construction in India

In addition to the reactors currently operating, there are over 50 (the exact number varies slightly according to sources^3,4) and more than 425 either planned or proposed, including a $1 billion project in Wyoming funded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett⁵.

In terms of the measurable effects on the energy supply, again estimates vary but on average indicate a roughly 50% uplift in capacity by 2040.

The International Energy Agency⁶ forecasts global nuclear capacity climbing to 582 GW by 2040, up from the 415 GW recorded in 2020, according to a report released in November 2021 while The Nuclear Fuel Report: Global Scenarios for Demand and Supply Availability 2021-2040 states “Nuclear generation capacity is expected to grow by 2.6% annually, reaching 615 GWe by 2040. As of mid-2021, global nuclear capacity was around 394 GWe (from 442 units), and about 60 GWe (57 units) was under construction. In the Reference Scenario, nuclear capacity is expected to grow by 2.6% annually, reaching 439 GWe by 2030 and 615 GWe by 2040.”

Another forecast from the International Atomic Energy Agency⁷ is even more bullish about future demand with a more than 100% increase in demand by 2050 (see below).

As an illustrations of the levels. of demand for Uranium, Sprott Asset Management, commented via Twitter, in September 2021, that they had purchased over 28 million pounds since mid-august 2021⁸. It is also interesting to note that, from a United States perspective, “The vast majority of uranium delivered in 2020 was of foreign-origin with Canada the top source at 22.4% of total deliveries”⁹, further highlighting the growth potential in the market.

¹ Source: UxC 21 in 21 Webinar
² Source: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx
³ Source: https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/WorldStatistics/UnderConstructionReactorsByCountry.aspx
⁴ Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/268154/number-of-planned-nuclear-reactors-in-various-countries/
⁵ Source: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gates-warren-buffett-building-100008796.html
⁶ Source: https://www.iea.org/reports/nuclear-power
⁷ Source: https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1104_scr.pdf
⁸ Source: https://twitter.com/Sprott/status/1438657757679341570
⁹ Source: https://www.eia.gov/uranium/marketing/

MARKET

THE URANIUM MARKET

U.S.A 2

CANADA 2

FRANCE 2

CHINA 2

INDIA 2

U.S.A ²

CANADA ²

FRANCE ²

CHINA ²

INDIA ²