Every effort must be made to reduce emissions and increase removal of atmospheric carbon. It will take a concerted global effort to turn the tide, and nuclear energy is an integral part of the solution.
Nuclear energy has been safely and quietly powering America with clean, carbon-free electricity for more than 60 years. The most reliable energy source in the country, nuclear power provides electricity to about one in five American homes and delivers more than half of the nation's carbon-free electricity.
Clean, safe and carbon free, nuclear power has all the attributes needed to help bend the curve on carbon — except that the United States is at the mercy of foreign sources for uranium. U.S. production has fallen to only a fraction of the uranium needed to fuel even one of the U.S. commercial reactors.
The U.S. has become overdependent on foreign supplies, with about half of annual requirements now being imported from countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. These state-supported uranium mining companies from the former Soviet Union have been flooding the market with cheap uranium. Unable to compete, American companies have been forced to idle their plants, and the country is dangerously close to losing its uranium fuel industrial base. Recently, however, nuclear has gained government support and is included as one of the power sources eligible for a national clean-energy mandate sought by the White House as part of its Clean Energy Standard.
The infrastructure plan could be a boon for uranium companies. A leading pure-play, production-ready American uranium company, Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE UEC) (Profile) has been investing in the next generation of low-cost and environmentally friendly in-situ recovery (ISR) mining uranium projects. UEC properties are primarily located within the United States, and the company controls one of the largest historical uranium exploration and development databases in the country.
Others that may benefit from the government's clean-energy push could be the iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index Fund (NASDAQ ICLN) or perhaps an alternative energy company such as First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ FSLR), or the electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ TSLA) or even a miner like Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE FCX), which supplies raw metals critical to solar and EV manufacturers.
America faces a national security threat; the nation imports almost all its uranium despite operating the world's largest nuclear reactor fleet.
The White House has a goal to reclaim domestic uranium production.
UEC has amassed the largest resource base of fully permitted ISR projects of any U.S.-based uranium companies.
UEC's projects contain 58 million pounds of U3O8 Measured and Indicated reserves, with another 45 million pounds in the Inferred category.
NEW YORK
The world is hearing a growing chorus of urgency to change the curve of carbon emissions. Calling it a climate emergency, Scientific American recently said, the adverse effects of climate change are much more severe than expected.
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