The price per pound of uranium has more than tripled over the past four years as interest in nuclear power has grown.
On March 2, 2020, a pound of uranium concentrate, the mined uranium that is processed into nuclear reactor fuel, cost $24.80 on the spot market in Canada, according to Platts. More than four years later, on July 18, that same pound of uranium on the same market cost $84.85.
Uranium is commercially traded in three main locations: the United States, Canada and France, William Freebairn, associate editorial director of nuclear power and uranium at S&P Global Commodity Insights, told Cipher. Platts and S&P use the price of mined uranium delivered to Canada as its baseline price; the price differences in the U.S. and France are minimal, Freebairn said.
From 2021 through 2023, the price of uranium marched steadily higher, reaching $107 on February 2, 2024, its highest peak over the last four years. The increase comes as excitement about nuclear energy has exploded in response to a sense of urgency about tackling climate change. Because nuclear reactors do not generate greenhouse gas emissions, this clean-energy sector has gained new appeal — and new investors.
In recent years, some nuclear operators have postponed or reversed decisions to retire nuclear plants in the U.S. and Europe, Freebairn said. There has also been talk about opening new nuclear plants in those markets and in less wealthy countries, he said.
These developments come after “a long period of underinvestment in uranium supply that tracked the declining enthusiasm for nuclear energy following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan and dropping global natural gas prices,” Freebairn told Cipher.
The high prices in February were also due in part to supply chain worries in Kazakhstan, the world’s largest producer of uranium, Freebairn said. Those woes have eased somewhat, moderating the price in the months since, he said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s subsequent desire to wean off Russian supply chains have driven the costs of nuclear fuel higher but have had less of an impact on the price of mined, unprocessed uranium, said Freebairn. While Russia is a major producer of processed nuclear fuel, it is not a major exporter of raw uranium.
