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Uranium Week: US Reduces Reliance On Russia

Weekly Reports | Oct 13 2020

Existing protections for the US commercial enrichment industry are strengthened, as the weekly uranium price resumes the recent downward trend.

-DoC finalises amendment to RSA
-Nuclear power expands in Romania/contracts in Belgium
-Weekly spot prices fall incrementally

By Mark Woodruff

The US Department of Commerce (DoC) and Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom have signed a final amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation Russian Suspension Agreement (RSA). This extends the Agreement through 2040, and reduces US reliance on uranium from Russia during that period, explains industry consultant TradeTech.

In an October 6 statement, DoC noted the amendment, which is unchanged from a draft amendment released for public comment on September 11, will extend the RSA that was previously set to expire on December 31.

The previous Agreement allowed Russian uranium exports to meet approximately 20% of US enrichment demand, explains TradeTech. The amended Agreement drops this amount to an average of approximately 17% over the next 20 years, and will be no higher than 15% starting in 2028.

It also strengthens existing protections for the US commercial enrichment industry as the final amendment will enable the US enrichment industry to compete on fair terms, according to the DoC.

Country News

US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and Romania’s Minister of Economy, Energy, and Business Development Virgil Popescu initialled a draft Intergovernmental Agreement to cooperate on the "expansion and modernisation" of Romania’s nuclear power program, reports TradeTech.

However, on the flip side, Belgium’s new coalition government plans to support the previous administration's plans to shut down the country’s reactor fleet in 2025. This is on the condition that security of the country's power supply will not be affected.

The closure of the nation's seven commercial reactors at two nuclear power plants was signed into law in 2003, and again confirmed in 2015 and 2018.

A commission has been appointed to assess the impact of the nuclear power phase out.

Uranium Pricing

TradeTech’s Weekly Uranium Spot Price Indicator fell -US$0.20 to US$29.80/lb last week.

The weekly spot price has been relatively stable for the last several weeks. The indicator sits 19% over its value from a year ago and has increased 20% since the beginning of the year, averaging a 0.5% weekly increase in 2020.

The average weekly uranium spot price for 2020 is US$29.69/lb, US$3.85/lb above the 2019 average.

Four spot transactions were concluded this week involving a total of 500,000lbs U3O8.

TradeTech's term price indicators are unchanged at US$34.00/lb (mid) and US$37.00/lb (long).

September Market Summary

Over the course of September TradeTech’s monthly spot price, the Exchange Value, for September 30 was US$30.10/lb a decrease of -US$0.95 from the August 31 Exchange Value.

The drop in the spot price followed a month that was relatively quiet with 36 transactions involving 4.9m lbs recorded. Producers and traders remained the primary buyers in the spot uranium market during September, although there was limited buying activity from the utility sector.

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