Uranium Week: Small Modular Reactors In The News

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As the uranium spot price slides nearly -5%, the US senate and the Australian government separately focus upon small modular reactors.

-Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal passes in the US senate
-Spending directed, in part, toward small modular reactors 
-Uranium spot price falls by -4.7% for the week

By Mark Woodruff

Last week, the US Senate passed a US$1trn infrastructure bill, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.

The bill includes $73bn in grid modernisation, as well as provisions for investment in advanced reactor demonstration projects and research hubs for next-generation technologies, such as carbon capture and clean hydrogen.

For the US nuclear power industry, the legislative package targets ageing power plants as well as proposed small modular reactors (SMRs). It allocates US$6 billion for the US Department of Energy (DOE) to spend on nuclear facilities that are under threat of being shut down due to economic factors. 

It also dedicates $6bn in funding for microreactors, SMRs and advanced nuclear reactors.

Meanwhile, the governments of Australia and the UK have signed a letter of intent to establish a partnership on low emissions solutions including clean hydrogen and small modular reactors (SMRs).

Australia’s Technology Investment Roadmap, which was released last year by the Australian government, identifies SMRs as a "watching brief technology". That is, a prospective technology with transformative potential.

Company news

ASX-listed Alligator Energy ((AGE)) has completed the issue of new shares under a $10.7m placement.

CEO Greg Hall said the company can “now aim to advance the Samphire Project through scoping and into feasibility work in an improving uranium market”. The project is near Whyalla, South Australia. 

The additional funds also enable work to be fast-tracked on the Nabarlek North Project within the Alligator Rivers Uranium Province in the Northern Territory.

Uranium pricing 

TradeTech's Weekly Spot Price Indicator fell to US$30.50/lb, a -US$1.50 decrease from last week. 

The Indicator, which had climbed nearly 7% this year, is now only 0.3% higher than at the beginning of 2021. The average Weekly Spot Price Indicator in 2021 is US$30.49/lb, US$0.78 above the 2020 average.

A total of six transactions were recorded for the week.

After a long summer of limited demand and growing uncertainty surrounding the fate of the Byron and Dresden Nuclear Power Plants in the US State of Illinois, several sellers were left with unsold inventory.

According to TradeTech, the decline in the spot uranium price last week was the end result of this unsold inventory meeting multiple sellers eager to conclude business, after losing out on competitive offers with a utility earlier in the week.

TradeTech's term price indicators are US$33.50/lb (mid) and US$35.00/lb (long).

The trend in the term uranium space toward smaller purchases for shorter and nearer-term deliveries continues, according to TradeTech. This is alongside the more significant enriched uranium product (EUP) purchases that have been a mainstay, particularly among non-US utility buyers.

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