Where to invest in nuclear power?
Investing in a nuclear power plant may involve a period of 10 or more years of capital investment before first revenues. The RAB model in effect allows the capital outlay to be divided into steps.
Investing in a nuclear power plant may involve a period of 10 or more years of capital investment before first revenues. The RAB model in effect allows the capital outlay to be divided into steps.
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has been the chair of nuclear reactor company TerraPower since 2006. A nuclear reactor company cofounded by Bill Gates signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates to explore building advanced reactors in the Gulf country.
As of 2023, capital costs for nuclear power plants ranged between 8,475 and 13,925 U.S. dollars per kilowatt. As the radioactive materials used and the waste created require careful handling, nuclear stations are among the most expensive to built.
The largest Nuclear Energy ETF is the Global X Uranium ETF URA with $2.72B in assets. In the last trailing year, the best-performing Nuclear Energy ETF was URNM at 49.54%. The most recent ETF launched in the Nuclear Energy space was the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF NUKZ on 01/24/24.
But nuclear power has two key challenges that are intertwined: capital intensity and safety. Even though uranium itself is a bit of a wonder fuel, accessing its energy content has historically required large, expensive reactors and facilities.
Although it is a commodity, uranium cannot be traded directly due to its radioactive nature. Instead, investors can gain exposure to uranium through stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that represent companies involved in the mining and production of uranium.
According to a 2019 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 25 percent of “existing nuclear capacity in advanced economies [are] expected to be shut down by 2025.” While it's tempting to see this as nuclear energy's swan song, some may argue it's more like a phoenix rising from radioactive ashes.
The mission of the NGNP Project is to develop, license, build, and operate a prototype modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) plant that would generate high-temperature process heat for use in hydrogen production and other energy-intensive industries while generating electric power at the same time.
The study of the economics of nuclear power has found it has never been financially viable, that most plants have been built while heavily subsidised by governments, often motivated by military purposes, and that nuclear power is not a good approach to tackling climate change.
Why is nuclear energy a good investment?
Nuclear powers America's cities and towns more reliably than any other energy source. It holds the key to our high-tech future and drives our highest hopes for a brighter world. It creates thousands of jobs and adds billions to our economy. It keeps our grid online and our homeland safe.
Their findings suggest that the cost per kilowatt (KW) for utility-scale solar is less than $1,000, while the comparable cost per KW for nuclear power is between $6,500 and $12,250.
Long story short, the outlook for uranium looks great right now, with supply constrained and demand growing as a new generation of small modular reactors spurs demand for the glowing metal.
Thorium boasts several advantages over the conventional nuclear fuel, uranium-235. Thorium can generate more fissile material (uranium-233) than it consumes while fuelling a water-cooled or molten-salt reactor.
As most nuclear fusion companies are private – and their shares are not sold on open markets – the only way to trade nuclear fusion start-ups is by buying and selling the shares of their investors. For example, both Chevron and Alphabet are considered nuclear stocks because they invested in TAE Technologies.
Nuclear power is too expensive compared to alternatives.
Wind and solar both undercut nuclear power rates. The authoritative Lazard energy analysis for 2023 costed storage-backed onshore wind and solar at US $42 to $114 per megawatt-hour, compared to nuclear power at US $141 to $221.
Greenpeace has always fought – and will continue to fight – vigorously against nuclear power because it is an unacceptable risk to the environment and to humanity. The only solution is to halt the expansion of all nuclear power, and for the shutdown of existing plants.
Most of this waste is stored in tanks at 3 DOE sites. According to federal law, certain high-level mixed waste must be vitrified—a process in which the waste is immobilized in glass—and disposed of in a deep geologic repository.
The largest Aggressive ETF is the iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF AOA with $1.82B in assets. In the last trailing year, the best-performing Aggressive ETF was AOA at 17.81%. The most recent ETF launched in the Aggressive space was the iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF EAOA on 06/12/20.
You are allowed to own up to one ton of natural Uranium ore minerals in the United States. There is no limit on activity as long as the samples are naturally occurring minerals.
Can you legally own uranium in the US?
Yes, you have to be special licensed to possess quantities of Uranium and/or Plutonium of greater than 1 gram. If you are not licensed, then it is illegal to possess either element. You can own natural uranium. You need a federal license to own plutonium or enriched uranium.
But it's legal (https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part040/part040-0013.html) for you to own “unimportant quantities” of source material so, as long as: The uranium has not been processed to enrich it. The uranium or thorium are less than 0.05% of the mass of the rock or ore material.
In fact, an ETF called the Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF (NASDAQ:QYLD), launched in 2013, currently boasts an eye-catching yield of 12%. While the ETF holds appeal for income investors, there are also several things that investors should be aware of before jumping in right after seeing that eye-popping yield.
Market risk
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.
Bill Gates and his 10-year-old energy company TerraPower are planning their first cutting-edge nuclear power plant in Kemmerer.
