Source: datacenterdynamics
By: Zachary Skidmore
Date: Jan 14, 2025
Uranium prices have hit an all-time high, with artificial intelligence data centers driving increased demand for nuclear fuel.
According to an FT report, the price of enriched uranium reached $190 per separative work unit, which measures the effort needed to separate uranium isotopes. This is a marked increase from $56 three years ago.
The price rise comes as large data center operators have begun prioritizing nuclear power as a crucial energy source for their operations.
Last year, both AWS and Microsoft signed agreements to offtake power from nuclear power stations. In addition, Meta launched a request for proposals to identify potential nuclear energy developers to support 1.4GW of new nuclear generation capacity across the US.
Data center operators have also backed small modular reactor (SMR) technology. Last year, Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed three nuclear power deals in the US, including an agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, that will enable the development of four advanced SMRs.
In addition, Google announced a 500MW deal with SMR provider Kairos Power. The firm expects the first of the six to seven reactors under the agreement to come online in 2030.
A constrained supply chain has further exacerbated prices. According to analysts at Berenberg, 27 percent of US-enriched uranium imports came from Russia in 2023. However, prices have skyrocketed due to US sanctions and a Russian export ban.
The market is expected to become even more constrained when a US waiver for importers expires at the end of 2027. This will pressure the sector to find new facilities that can convert uranium into pellets used to fuel reactors.
Outside of Russia, Western countries with operational uranium conversion facilities include France, the US, and Canada. However, the long lead time and substantial upfront costs for constructing new facilities could seriously affect supply availability in the short term.
“We just don’t have enough conversion and enrichment in the west and that’s why the price has had this kind of move, and that price will only go higher,” said Nick Lawson, chief executive of investment group Ocean Wall.
A squeeze in availability could increase prices for immediate delivery, analysts said. Kazatomprom, the Kazakhstan state miner and the world’s largest uranium producer has recently warned that production is lower than expected.
“We see increasingly that Kazakh material will flow to China and Russia, and less of it will go west,” said Andre Liebenberg, chief executive of London-listed uranium investment vehicle Yellow Cake. “We could easily see a supply crunch in the medium term just because of the lack of new projects that can come on stream quickly.”
