Uranium price

The demand side is driven by the restart of nuclear power. About 440 reactors operate worldwide across 32 countries, and many units are returning to the grid after the shutdown wave that followed Fukushima. European operators are extending reactor lifetimes, with Germany the main exception, while Japan continues to restart selected reactors. Small modular reactor projects (SMRs) are part of the demand story. Hyperscale data-centre operators have also signed direct reactor-power purchase agreements for round-the-clock supply, including Microsoft–Constellation at Three Mile Island, Amazon–Talen and Google–Kairos Power. According to the IAEA’s tracking, new reactor completions are not keeping pace with planned capacity additions.

Geographic concentration on the supply side is the second defining feature of the market. Almost 40% of global uranium comes from Kazakhstan (Kazatomprom, about 21,000 tonnes a year), with a further roughly 11% from Canada (Cameco, about 7,000 tonnes a year), 8–10% from Australia (BHP Olympic Dam) and about 9% from Namibia (Husab, Rössing). Western mine output has recovered only partly from earlier lows. Several projects, including Cameco’s McArthur River and Paladin’s Langer Heinrich, spent years in care and maintenance. Geopolitical exposure is material: Kazatomprom’s logistics partly rely on the Russian rail network, while US HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) supply remains heavily dependent on Rosatom.

The third factor is the contract cycle and the role of physical buyers. Nuclear-plant operators cover 70–85% of their inventories through long-term contracts (LTCs), and waves of contract renegotiation create cyclical demand peaks. In the spot market, the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (SPUT) is an important buyer. The closed-end fund, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, holds physical U₃O₈ in multi-tonne lots and has been a persistent purchaser since launch. Trust-sized spot buying can move prices in a structurally thin market.