Cameco is considering acquiring closed or unfinished US reactors, according to chief executive Bernard Michel. The world’s biggest supplier of uranium already owns a 15% stake in Bruce Power in Canada.
Michel sees US commercial nuclear power capacity growing between 10,000 and 50,000MWe over the 20 years.
Michel said: “We do not believe that beyond Bruce Power there would be any opportunity in Canada, but there will be opportunities in the USA, and this would be where we’d focus our attention.” He added that Cameco would not stray far from its core operations as a uranium supplier. Michel said that, as a cheaper, cleaner and more reliable way to generate electricity than coal, oil or gas, nuclear was making a comeback. However, he did not expect a boost in uranium demand until 2005. “It takes a while to initiate new nuclear programmes.”
