Uranium Miners Jump as Japan Moves to Restart Reactors
By Christopher Donville Nov 8, 2014 6:44 AM ET 0 Comments Email Print
Dec 1Jan 1Feb 1Mar 1Apr 1May 1Jun 1Jul 1Aug 1Sep 1Oct 1Nov 10.751.001.251.501.75* Price chart for FISSION URANIUM CORP. Click flags for important stories.FCU:CN0.870.11 14.47%
Uranium prices and producers’ shares soared after Japan cleared the way for restart of the first of the nuclear reactors shut after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. (9508) today received final local approval to resume power generation at its Sendai nuclear plant in northern Japan, according to a prefecture statement. All reactors in Japan have been shut since a March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami led to a meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl
“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” David Sadowski, a Vancouver-based analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc., wrote today in a note to clients. “Restarts in Japan will reduce the threat that Japan’s utilities will dump their uranium inventories into the market.”
Sendai’s two reactors are in position to be the first nuclear plants in Japan to resume operations under more stringent safety rules set by the country’s nuclear regulator. Officials in Satsumasendai city, the closest community to the reactors, last month voted in favor of allowing restart. Final reviews of construction and safety rules must still be completed.
The Solactive Global Uranium Total Return Index, which tracks 21 companies in the uranium mining industry, rose the most intraday since March 2011. The index is still down 80 percent from its highest price in 2011.
The price of U3O8 -- a tradable form of uranium -- rose 4.3 percent to $39.50 a pound today, the biggest intraday gain since March 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The metal traded as high as $73 in January 2011.
“We are hearing that several utilities are in the market looking for supply,” Sadowski said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Donville in Vancouver at
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