NEWSFLASH - NRC / STM ArticleUranium Companies May Triple U.S. Mines as Reactors Lift Prices
2007-06-01 15:33 (New York)
By Tina Seeley
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- The number of U.S. uranium mines may
triple as companies seek the first federal licenses in about 27
years to fuel potential new nuclear reactors, Nuclear Regulatory
Commission officials said.
Canada's Strathmore Minerals Corp. and Powertech Uranium
Corp. are among those who have told the agency they will seek
permission for U.S. projects. The commission hasn't received a
new uranium license application since about 1980. The U.S.
currently has six operating uranium mines.
Demand in the U.S. is forecast to rise with the addition of
as many as 31 nuclear reactors, a 30 percent increase from the
existing 104. Worldwide uranium demand will more than double by
2030, the World Nuclear Association said last month.
``It's a revitalization of an industry,'' Charles Miller,
director of the commission's Office of Federal and State
Materials and Environmental Management Programs, said in a
telephone interview yesterday.
Uranium prices have almost doubled since December, reaching
$125 a pound in the week ending May 28, according to Ux
Consulting Co., which tracks uranium production and prices. The
New York Mercantile Exchange last month began trading standard
uranium futures contracts for the first time, seeking to
capitalize on increased demand.
More Interest
``With the high cost of uranium, it's like the high price of
oil: people are now going out and looking a lot more than they
had in the past,'' Commission Chairman Dale Klein said in a May
25 interview.
The U.S. has an estimated 424 million tons of uranium ore
reserves, more than half of which is in Wyoming, according to a
2003 report by the Energy Information Administration. That
amounts to about 890 million pounds of uranium oxide, or
yellowcake, which is processed into nuclear fuel.
U.S. reactor owners bought 67 million pounds of uranium
oxide equivalent in 2006, and the majority of that amount, 84
percent, was imported.
Production of uranium oxide in the U.S. has risen from an
all-time low of about 2.0 million pounds in 2003 to 4.1 million
pounds in 2006.
That figure could increase to 20 million pounds a year in
the next four to five years, said Jon Indall, counsel to the
Uranium Producers of America.
Indall's group, formed in 1985 to represent the industry,
was reduced to two members in 2000. ``We're up to 14 or 15
companies now,'' he said in a telephone interview today.
`Big Ramp Up'
The first of as many as 14 federal license applications
could come in September, said Bill von Till, uranium recovery
licensing branch chief for the commission. There may be another
11 applications to expand or restart existing facilities.
``It's a big ramp up,'' Indall said of the proposed new
facilities. He said during the last boom for uranium producers,
big mining and oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and
Kerr-McGee Corp., were part of the rush for uranium supplies.
Utilities, including the government-owned Tennessee Valley
Authority, Long Island Lighting Co. and Commonwealth Edison Co.
also participated in the industry.
``So far we haven't seen much movement from them to get into
this business, although it could happen,'' said Indall. Most of
the companies involved now are Canadian firms known as
``juniors,'' companies that are ``more entrepreneurial than the
big mining companies,'' he said.
Strathmore, Powertech
Strathmore intends to seek a license for a facility in New
Mexico and one in Wyoming. Powertech Uranium, which is based in
Canada, has said it will seek permits for two uranium projects,
one in Colorado and one in South Dakota.
The commission's licensing process will take about two years
and cost ``several million dollars,'' Miller said.
The commission doesn't license traditional uranium mines.
``We regulate everything pretty much after that, which is really
called the milling process,'' said Miller.
The agency does require licenses for unconventional mining
projects, not already under state jurisdiction, that use ``in-
situ leaching'' to extract the uranium.
The process involves drilling well holes and using a liquid
solvent to recover the uranium.
Several projects, particularly those that use in-situ
leaching have now become economical, Klein said.
The majority of the applications, 11 of 14, would be for in-
situ leaching, which is a cheaper way of getting to the uranium,
Miller said. Its advantage is ``you're not digging the material
out of the ground,'' he said. ``So you don't have residual piles
of material that is waste material when you're done.''
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