BusinessDay reports on Wednesday Rio Tinto vowed not to abandon its uranium ambitions, despite conceding the recent crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant would slow growth in the uranium mining and nuclear power sectors for several years.
Nuclear energy represents about 14% of global electricity and is set grow: 25 new plants are currently under construction in China and some 100 are on the drawing board to add to the 400 operating around the world. Uranium prices fell immediately following the Japan earthquake, but have since recovered to around US$55 per pound.
”For us, I think maybe the growth rate of uranium over the next 10 years could be slower than it would have been, post-Fukushima,” he said. ”There will probably be, over the next five years, an extended delay in some new construction as a consequence of studies, more community challenges in getting new facilities planned, permitted or built.”
