No one talks about nuclear or uranium anymore.
Investors have shunned it for going on nine years, during which the Global X Uranium ETF (NYSE: URA) has lost over 90% of its value.
Similarly, uranium prices have been depressed, having hit a 12-year low below $18 per pound in 2016. They are currently stuck in the low $20s.
Given that uranium supplies clean baseload power for 15% of the world, the sector has never been in danger of going to zero. But it has bumped along just above zero for years now.
The current near-zero status of the nuclear and uranium industries must change if the world wants clean, stable electricity. The International Energy Agency is forecasting a rise in nuclear generation from 400 gigawatts today to 1,250 gigawatts by 2050.
Global nuclear energy generation has now recovered to pre-Fukushima levels. There are 447 reactors operating worldwide, 55 under construction, and 449 ordered/planned/proposed.
The U.S. remains the largest nuclear country in the world, getting 20% of its electricity from it via 97 operating reactors. (Yet it gets less than 2% of its uranium domestically. More on that in a minute.)
China has 47 working reactors, and is taking the lead on new reactors with 11 under construction and 213 in the works - aiming to triple its nuclear capacity by 2030 so its people can breathe.