Admin Reviews Fuel Production To Mixed Nuclear Reactions
by Debra Fiakas, CFA
The U.S. Administration took a swing at the uranium ball, but it is not clear if it was a miss and strike out or just a walk. Some in the uranium industry are applauding a decision by the Trump Administration on the January 2018 petition by U.S. uranium producers Energy Fuels (UUUU: NYSE) and Ur-energy (URG: NYSE), requesting protection from uranium imports. The U.S. Commerce Department had investigated the petition under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. No new trade restrictions are being implemented at this time, but the Administration is establishing a working group to analyze U.S. nuclear fuel production. A report...
An uNclear Future
25 years on from Chernobyl: Nuclear’s unclear future, and the on-going renaissance for alternative energy stocks Karl L. Mitchell, Ph.D. Summary On April 26th, 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in northern Ukraine. The blast spewed a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe, causing many hundreds of thousands to flee from their homes in Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia. 25 years later we are facing the only other level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale; at Fukushima, Japan. Although less immediately catastrophic, it has resulted in...
Nuclear and Solar From Down Under
by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week the Aussies invaded New York City, bivouacking at a popular hotel and parading a string of Australia-based companies in front of investors. Of course, there were the usual mining and minerals companies for which resource-rich Australia is so famous. However, the Australia Stock Exchange - one of the event sponsors - has diversified with listings in communications, biotechnology and alternative energy. One of the presenters, Silex Systems, Inc. (SLX: ASX and SILXY: OTCQX) is a talented little company with technologies for solar and nuclear power generation. Silex has developed a laser...
Flocking to Uranium
The post Yellow Cake Debut described the capital raising effort of one of the newest players in the uranium supply chain. Yellow Cake leadership brought the aspiring intermediary to the capital market at a critical time for uranium producers. The uranium market has been in an extended trough period since the industry peak in 2007. At that time considerable development had been undertaken and capacity was beginning to generate sufficient supply to create stockpiled inventories. As this bloated condition persisted, in 2011 the nuclear power and its uranium supply chain were shocked by a Pacific Ocean tsunami that led to a nuclear spill at...
Book Review: Public Meltdown
Ben Plotzker The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. The focus on the public’s view of nuclear plant operator Entergy (NYSE:ETR) sets Public Meltdown: The Story of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, by Richard Watts apart from other nuclear energy books. The book avoids pro or anti-nuclear positions, and focus on scientific aspects of the plant, and instead tells the story of one nuclear plant’s journey through history. That plant is Vermont Yankee, a General Electric (GE) boiling water reactor type, the same...
NuScale’s Small Nuclear Reactors Land A Big Investor
by Debra Fiakas, CFA
NuScale Power is in a new pact with South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co. to support development of NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR). In addition to direct investment of $40 million in NuScale, Doosan has agreed to provide parts and equipment for the innovative nuclear power reactor valued at a total of $1.2 billion.
NuScale has been working on its power reactor for several years. The new design is based on pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology that has been used to power nuclear submarines and naval vessels. The design uses ordinary water as a coolant rather than ‘heavy’ water used by...
Nations in Nuclear Play And The Companies To Benefit
by Debra Fiakas
Saudi Arabia plans to build 17.8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2032, requiring about sixteen reactors. It is an ambitious plan and one that could have a significant impact on the nuclear power construction industry. Now the Saudi government is moving forward with a bidding process with nuclear power plant construction companies. Bids are expected before the end of 2018 and signing of contracts will be sometime in 2019.
Our review of possible bidders began with Toshiba’s (6502: Tokyo) Westinghouse Electric Company and Russia’s Rosatom Group. The last two posts, “Saudi Arabia Goes Nuclear” on January 16th and “Answering Saudi Arabia Request...
Offshore Wind A Big Part Of Why GE Wants Alstom
Who's the Energy Alpha Dog? GE or Siemens? By Jeff Siegel General Electric (NYSE:GE) wants to acquire one of the largest companies in France, and it could get what it wants if Germany doesn't get in the way. Alstom SA (AOMFF), the target of GE's desires, is a French energy and transportation company with a market value of approximately $11.5 billion. It deals in hydroelectric and nuclear power, environmental control systems, wind turbines and battery storage, as well as trains and rail infrastructure. It's a huge company, and GE could spend as much as $13 billion to...
Clean Energy Stocks to Fill the Nuclear Gap
Tom Konrad, CFA If the Japanese use less nuclear power, what will take its place? I'm astounded by the resilience and discipline of the Japanese people in response to the three-pronged earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, perhaps in large part by my cultural roots in the egocentric United States, where we seem to have forgotten the virtue of self-sacrifice for the greater good. Yet while Japanese society has shown itself to be particularly resilient, the Japanese electric grid is much less resilient. According to International Energy Agency statistics, Japan produced 258 TWh of electricity from...
Watch This Nuclear Player Boil
by Debra Fiakas CFA The last post on Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI: NYSE) noted the entrance of CBI into the nuclear field with the acquisition of The Shaw Group, which has an exclusive relationship with Toshiba Corporation related to the Toshiba Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR). More evolutionary than revolutionary the ABWR is supposed to be superior other designs in its light water reactor class. ABWR produces power by superheating water to the boiling point. The resulting steam is then used to drive a turbine attached to a generator. Other light water reactors also heat...
Yankee Graphite
Several graphite developers have made plans to integrate forward into the hottest segment of the market - battery-grade graphite. According to Industrial Minerals, spherical graphite suitable for lithium ion battery anodes is priced in a range of $2,700 to $2,800 per metric ton in China where many battery manufacturers are located. This compares quite well to the range of about $655 to $790 per metric ton for flake graphite concentrate.
The integration strategy has sent the sector into a frenzy of activity to prove their graphite meets expectations of battery manufacturers. The only graphite deposit in the U.S. mainland is under development by Westwater Resources...
Energy Dominoes From Japan
Joe McCabe Energy amazes me; the ramifications from elementary school physics of converting potential energy into kinetic energy. It's happening everywhere around us, and can have far reaching ramifications. An example is the potential energy in the form of pressure built up under Japan in plate tectonics before the recent earthquake, turned into land shaking, country moving, tsunami creating kinetic energy that reaches across the world. There are other forces, lets call it society energy, that can create financial shock waves in the energy industry including political, religious, and inaccurate supply curve assumptions. Energy Industry Domino...
Nuclear Stocks: Too Hot for an Eco Portfolio?
Guest Author Nuclear energy is not the “bad boy” it once was For many years, nuclear energy was labelled as a potential threat to the environment as well as the global population. Interestingly enough, the memories of the disasters at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island are now distant and the perspective of nuclear energy is changing in positive fashion. The growing worries created by the ballooning demands on the world’s energy sources, an increase in the competition for energy supplies, rising concerns regarding global warming, and the volatility of the gas and oil prices are reasons that...
Four Green Money Managers’ Top Stock Picks
Green money managers' stock picks after the Japanese nuclear crisis. Even as the nuclear disaster in Japan unfolds, it's clear that the world's energy industry will be forever changed. Russian reactors were never considered safe, but a Japanese to have a nuclear meltdown is an entirely different story. Market Reaction Since Monday, nuclear stocks and ETFs have been plummeting. As of Wednesday night, The Market Vectors Uranium + Nuclear Energy ETF (NYSE:NLR), the iShares S&P Global Nuclear Energy Index (NASD:NUCL), PowerShares Global Nuclear Energy Portfolio ETF (NYSE:PKN), and the Global X Uranium ETF (NYSE:URA) are down...
A Nuclear Waste Disposal Stock
Debra Fiakas CFA Many are firmly opposed and a few more are skeptical of the nuclear energy industry. A big concern is the waste resulting from the uranium enrichment process that is part and parcel of the reactors we have chosen to use for nuclear power generation. Some see recycling of the waste as an answer. First a short primer on uranium and then the recycling story. Natural uranium consists of a mixture of three radioactive isotopes which are identified by the mass numbers U-238 (99.27% by mass), U-235 (0.72%) and U-234 (0.0054%). Uranium is everywhere...
Exelon’s Dividend Siren Song
by Debra Fiakas CFA When the market gets volatile, many investors dive behind the protective shield of dividends. Exelon Corporation (EXC: NYSE) is an owner of nuclear power generation plants and is included in Crystal Equity Research’s Atomics Index of companies using the atom to create energy because more than half of its power output is generated at nuclear power plants. The company offers a handsome dividend near $1.24 per year. Granted it is not a small-cap company, which is the usual target for this column, but yield is beguiling. At the current price the dividend yield is...
