Spot uranium prices trended higher last week with TradeTech's weekly spot price indicator adding $0.25 to reach $21.50 per lb., its first weekly rise in almost two months.
The increase in TradeTech's spot uranium price came amid a bunch of positive developments for the uranium market. These included the impending restart of reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant and the Indian government's announcement that it would build 10 more nuclear plants to boost both its power supply and its economy.
So far this week the positive momentum is continuing. On Monday, Kansai Electric Power Co. actually restarted electricity generation and transmission at the No. 4 reactor at its Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. The No. 4 reactor was brought back online last Wednesday but now it has resumed its power generation and transmission for the first time in five years and 10 months. Even though this news hit last week, given the recent challenges plaguing the restart of nuclear reactors in the country, it was imperative to see the reactor actually up and running, and now we have that development.
This restart it significant for positive sentiment for the future of nuclear power in Japan where two more reactors are scheduled to restart in the next few months. Japan has a fleet of 54 reactors. According to FNArena, 21 have applied for permission to restart.
While optimism for future uranium demand hit the spot market, term contracts did not see any boost. According to TradeTech, there were no transactions in the term markets last week leaving the term price indicators unchanged at S$27.00/lb (mid) and US$35.00/lb (long). This is a different pattern than what we have been witnessing recently, where spot demand has been negligible, but optimism over longer-term demand has pushed term pricing higher.