UxC's Anna Bryndza on uranium price reporting

So we last caught up with each other, Anya, in Monaco in April, but at the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference.

And back then at that conference, there was very much a feeling that the prospects for nuclear are, are pretty bright at the moment.

What are your thoughts about is the fuel cycle capable of keeping up with the growth in demand?

There is now an overwhelming consensus that The future of nuclear power holds a lot of promise.

Now, there may be some uncertainty about the extent of, of growth or some other aspects, but really, and I think that you're right that that was really felt in during the WNFC conference, and that was quite apparent.

Universally, we're in agreement.

Perhaps the most telling sign for me of this ongoing market expansion is this tremendous influx of new faces and new companies attending.

I, I met more new folks at the conferences, including at the WNA symposium over the last two years than I have in, in the previous ten years.

It's just been such a refreshing experience.

So now the attention has shifted to preparation for this expansion, and the outlook for future nuclear fuel supply is naturally a major point of conversation.

We are seeing projected gaps in all the markets, and there is no doubt that new capacity must be brought online in a timely manner in order to meet the projected demand.

The markets are sending very clear signals with the prices, and the industry is moving rapidly to put in this new capacity in place.

M-most recently, we saw announcements of major expansion projects by Orano, by Urenco.

Solstice and at the same WNFC earlier this year announced that they were considering their Metropolis two point oh, either expansion of a new plant or, or expansion or a new plant.

We are seeing various uranium producers emerging or existing producers working on new projects, so all of this is positive.

However, there is some caution that is felt on the supply side in terms of not overshooting with this expansion.

So the impacts of supply growth that was undercut by Fukushima, they lasted very long time, and the memory is still fresh in the minds of the many.

And these were some dark, dark years for the industry, and the suppliers are careful in pacing their expansion and making sure that they are expanding if there's actual demand, not just demand signals, but actually demand that they can, uh, tap into that would underpin their efforts.

So I have no doubt that the industry will rise to the occasion, but I really also don't want to make it sound like it will be all smooth sailing.

We all know new projects, especially greenfield ones, these projects are complex.

Bringing them online takes time, and importantly, doing so is expensive.

So this tightness in the markets that we're seeing right now is not going to be alleviated overnight.

It will be a multi-year process, and taking future supply expansion for granted would be a very big mistake, especially by the nuclear fuel buyers.