Nuclear demand will outstrip supply: CEO

Uranium spot prices are unsustainable at current levels over the long term, the chief executive of miner Cameco Corp. CCO.TO said on Wednesday, but he also forecast global demand for the nuclear fuel outstripping production for the next eight or nine years.

Jerry Grandey told reporters at the company’s head office that he expects uranium demand to grow at three per cent annually for the next decade, forcing utilities to continue to depend on inventories to fill the gap.


The supply-demand imbalance has driven prices up sharply over the past few years.

Spot prices hit $136 a pound recently, a level which Grandey admits he never anticipated back when Cameco — now the world’s largest uranium producer — was buying up low-cost, high quality reserves before the recent price run-up.

Reuters