The New York Times is calling it the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. That event drove the price of uranium down over 60%. The small miners fell off a cliff even the URA which is the main ETF fell more than 40% in a few days, the selling had started before the earthquake along with the S&P.
But no matter what happens in Japan, nuclear energy is not going away. The world needs much more electricity than it can produce right now. Western countries consume around 7,000 kilowatt hours per person per year. For China and Brazil, that number is only 2,250. For India, it's only 500.
But because Brazil, China, and India get more wealthy every day, the number of consumers are growing rapidly, in a lot of places they have to do rolling blackouts to conserve energy. Once the middle class grows they'll want to stream movies over the Internet, too, and everything else that comes with a wealthier lifestyle. That means the electrical power supply must grow. I believe to keep it affordable a big part of the equation must be nuclear power as part of the mix.
China, which plans to build 60 new power plants over the next decade, isn't going to stop because of what happened in Japan… neither will India, which has 40 new reactors on the books over the next 20 years. Both these countries need electricity desperately, and nuclear power is a big part of that plan.That notwithstanding, the rout is on in the uranium sector. The juniors I've been talking about fell between 10% and 35%. Cameco, the ExxonMobil of uranium miners, dropped 13% on Monday. Was down big this morning before reversing.
Here's the thing: Japan's 56 nuclear reactors consume nearly 8,000 tons of uranium per year. If 11 are offline, 1,570 tons will go unused this year. That's about 2% of the world's consumption. Hardly enough to flood the market. Existing power plants all over the world still need uranium. Soon-to-be-built power plants in China and India will need uranium, too.
So I don't see this as a reversal! Just a correction.
But because Brazil, China, and India get more wealthy every day, the number of consumers are growing rapidly, in a lot of places they have to do rolling blackouts to conserve energy. Once the middle class grows they'll want to stream movies over the Internet, too, and everything else that comes with a wealthier lifestyle. That means the electrical power supply must grow. I believe to keep it affordable a big part of the equation must be nuclear power as part of the mix.
China, which plans to build 60 new power plants over the next decade, isn't going to stop because of what happened in Japan… neither will India, which has 40 new reactors on the books over the next 20 years. Both these countries need electricity desperately, and nuclear power is a big part of that plan.That notwithstanding, the rout is on in the uranium sector. The juniors I've been talking about fell between 10% and 35%. Cameco, the ExxonMobil of uranium miners, dropped 13% on Monday. Was down big this morning before reversing.
Here's the thing: Japan's 56 nuclear reactors consume nearly 8,000 tons of uranium per year. If 11 are offline, 1,570 tons will go unused this year. That's about 2% of the world's consumption. Hardly enough to flood the market. Existing power plants all over the world still need uranium. Soon-to-be-built power plants in China and India will need uranium, too.
So I don't see this as a reversal! Just a correction.
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| The Big Kahuna of the miners |
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| My favorite small cap, I had made good money with this one, got great funde's, do you own homework dont take my word for it |
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