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No Substitute for Nuclear Power

By: The Energy Report and Alka Singh



-- Posted Thursday, May 19 2011 | Digg This ArticleDigg It! |

Emotional sell offs of uranium stocks in the wake of the Japanese nuclear disaster created a buying opportunity, says Alka Singh, a mining analyst at Jennings Capital. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, she runs down the supply/demand problem that could drive prices to $75/lb.

 

The Energy Report: We talked a couple months ago, right after the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami damaged Japan's nuclear reactor, about the impact the disaster would have on the uranium market. Tell me, were you surprised by the short-term reaction, particularly after the operator raised the emergency level to a seven—the highest on the scale and equal to what happened in Chernobyl.

Alka Singh: I was somewhat surprised by the news reports. The Chernobyl accident was a much more destructive accident than that of Japan. The difference in the scale of the two events was enormous. A meltdown is certainly not a good thing, but the ultimate measure of a disaster is how much radioactivity is released into the environment. The Japanese meltdown can be compared to Three Mile Island, where very little radiation leaked out of the facility. What happened in Japan was a natural disaster caused by a tsunami and an earthquake rather than an operational failure. The media likes to make a bigger deal out of it.

TER: And, what about the reaction of the stock market short term?

AS: The stock market reacted immediately. Uranium producers, uranium companies and utility companies with nuclear power plants were down between 60% and 80% from pre-earthquake levels. The market is emotional. You have to understand that. It is similar to what happened during the oil spill. Oil stocks eventually bounced back. We are hoping in the near future people will realize the supply/demand fundamentals of the uranium market and this strong sell off will stop.

TER: When we talk about short-term impacts, on what does the length of the negative reaction depend? Does it depend on how long it takes to get the reactor fully contained? Does it depend on other reactors coming back online or being built? What is it going to take for the markets to shift to more of a long-term supply/demand fundamental mindset rather than a short-term reaction to the headlines mindset?

AS: In addition to the speed of the Japanese reaction, the market is also watching other countries that made noise about being cautious in the permitting and construction of new reactors. Slowly the world will realize that we need nuclear power. You cannot substitute nuclear power with wind, solar or geothermal power. Once the market realizes that the supply and demand fundamentals for uranium are strong, that's when there will be a reversal in the prices. It will be a fast reversal. I would compare it to what happened in the entire financial market in 2008. It took three to five months for everything to rebound back to the same level. That is why this is a good buying opportunity for people who can take some volatility and some risk and stay there for the long run.

TER: How many countries have canceled or scaled back plans for nuclear plants? What is the status of nuclear plants in the planning and operational state?

AS: Germany took seven reactors off line. In Japan, out of 56 operating reactors 11 in the earthquake and tsunami zone have been shutdown. Not a single country has scaled back any of the 62 nuclear power plants being built. That means that of the 443 operating reactors in the world about 4% of them were impacted by what happened in Japan.

TER: Two suppliers are going offline this year. What does that mean for the supply and demand balance of uranium?

AS: The 443 operating reactors need about 180 million pounds (Mlbs.) of uranium. We are just talking about the ones in operation right now. Today, the world produces 130 Mlbs./year. The 50 Mlbs. gap is filled by the Russian Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) agreement and some fuel reprocessing. If the HEU agreement expires, as the Russian government says it will in 2013, where are we going to get that 25 Mlbs.? Not a single mine in the world produces over 20 Mlbs. of uranium a year.

TER: Are any new sources coming on line?

AS: The problem is that from exploration to production, uranium mines take about 10 years to develop compared to a gold mine, which could be in production in about five years. That is because of the tough regulatory environment. A few are in the final stages of that process. When they ramp up, each of those companies will be producing about 2 Mlbs. of uranium per year—just 6 Mlbs. of uranium when the U.S. utilities alone use 57 Mlbs. In 2010, the U.S. produced 4 Mlbs. This is the kind of market that we are talking about right now.

TER: When we talked two months ago, you pegged the long-term target price at $75/ lb. Is the psychological nuclear fear factor figured into that estimate? And, is that still your long-term estimate?

AS: Yes, that is my long-term estimate. The psychological nuclear fear factor was figured into it a little bit. But, it will not last for long. Eventually the market will realize that while the Fukushima melt down was a bad thing, we have to get our energy from somewhere. India needs more energy. So does China. So does South Korea. So does Brazil. So does Russia. Where is all that energy going to come from? Either you burn coal or natural gas or run hydroelectric power or nuclear. But most of the hydroelectric options have been tapped. Using coal will pollute the environment. So, what do you do? Is nuclear that ugly? Well, not really comparatively speaking.

TER: What kinds of companies should we be watching?

AS: I would stay away from high-cost producers and companies that have resources, but are in the early exploration stage, trying to ride the uranium bull market of mid-2010 into early 2011.

TER: Good advice. Any other uranium issues you can see on the horizon that investors might what to brace themselves against?

AS: Every uranium investor should watch oil prices. Generally oil has a good correlation to uranium prices. In 2007, we saw uranium prices go up to $139 at the same time oil hit its annual high. Now we're seeing oil reach an all-time high again. It has backed up a little bit, but I think oil over $90/barrel is always very positive for uranium.

Prior to taking a position as mining analyst at Jennings Capital, Alka Singh was the managing director and senior metals and mining analyst at Rodman & Renshaw in New York City for two years. Previously, Ms. Singh was a vice president covering the metals and mining sector in Canada at Merrill Lynch, and prior to that she was an associate analyst covering the gold and base metal companies at Orion Securities Inc. Ms. Singh holds an MBA from Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada and a Bachelor of Science in geology from the University of Delhi in India.

Streetwise – The Energy Report is Copyright © 2011 by Streetwise Reports LLC. All rights are reserved. Streetwise Reports LLC hereby grants an unrestricted license to use or disseminate this copyrighted material (i) only in whole (and always including this disclaimer), but (ii) never in part.

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-- Posted Thursday, May 19 2011 | Digg This ArticleDigg It! |



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