NEI's Energy Markets Report - November 23

NEI's Energy Markets Report - November 23 - 27, 2009

The latest is up, below are three tidbits you may find useful:

From January 2009 to August 2009, US primary energy consumption fell by 5.7 percent compared to the same time period in 2008. For the first eight months of 2009, petroleum provided 31.7% of US energy consumption, natural gas provided 24.6% of US energy consumption, coal provided 21.0%, nuclear 9.0%, biomass 4.1%, hydro 2.9%, wind 0.7%, geothermal 0.4%, and solar 0.1% (EIA’s Monthly Energy Review).

Uranium spot prices rose for the first time in six weeks to $44 and $45.50/lb U3O8 according to TradeTech and UxConsulting. “On the supply side, a number of sellers that came to the market in advance of the anticipated transfer of uranium by the US Department of Energy to USEC have successfully placed the bulk of their remaining 2009 inventory and are now looking towards 2010 and a potential increase in demand. As a result, sellers were less aggressive in pursuing buyers and responded to the new buying interest by raising offer prices” (TradeTech, pages 1 and 3).

On December 14, the Energy Information Administration will release its Annual Energy Outlook 2010 which will present projections of U.S. energy supply, demand, and prices to 2035.

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Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...

NEI Nuclear Notes

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