Nuculear

Introduction

Nuclear Power has been around since the first reactor was developed in the 1950s in the US.

The country that generates the most electricity from nuclear power is the US, whose 104 reactors generate 809 kWh in 2008, which is 20% of US’s electrical production.  However, no new nuclear reactors have built in the past 30 years in the US.[i] Most forecast future growth is expected to come from China and South Korea.[ii]

The minimum cost for nuclear plant is $1 Billion USD.  Some recent facilities planned for the UK are forecast to cost £2.8 billion apiece. [iii] Companies that are involved in the design and construction of nuclear power plants are major multi-national corporations, such as Westinghouse, EDF Group, and AREVA.

Investment Opportunities

Given the structure of the industry, and the huge capital costs required to enter it, the industry can be best characterized as an oligopoly.

The only sizeable sector of the nuclear power industry that is open to emerging companies and entrepreneurs is in the exploration and development of new uranium resources.  In other words, the junior mining sector.

Sustainable Kapital’s focus is on new technologies, but will cover interesting and unique opportunities in the uranium mining space.  A special focus will be those miners that are utilizing newer technologies to extract and refine the uranium from the host rocks.

[ii] http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuc_reactors/china/outlook.html.  Accessed February 23, 2010.

[iii] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3321124/Ten-UK-nuclear-power-stations-by-2020.html.  Accessed February 23, 2010.