Nuclear Energy

World’s Largest Producer (56 million pounds produced in 2023) –
Accounting for 40% of Global Production
Ø 2022 Bloody January Civil Unrest – Put down violently by Russian Special Forces
Ø President Tokayev Denounces Russian Invasion of Ukraine – But joins Putin for
Russian May Day military parade in Red Square
Ø Kazakhstan joins the Shanghai Cooperation Group designed to counter
US/UK/European economic influence
Ø Russia increases direct ownership and control of Kazakh uranium assets to > 50%
Ø Pro-Western senior executives are purged from Kazatomprom
Ø Chinese expand direct control of JV’s and marketing rights to Kazakh uranium
Ø Alashankou Global Trading Hub – Directs more Kazakh uranium to China
Ø Logistical challenges due to Russian sanctions (Black Sea vs Port of St. Peters

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“China’s nuclear fuel requirements are set to become the largest in the world by the 2030s, which will drive
further expansion into all fuel cycle sectors as supply security dictates future actions. Recently, China’s political
leaders have described their nuclear fuel supply strategy as a “four-legged stool,” which is comprised of domestic
production, domestically-held stockpiles, investments in foreign mines and facilities, as well as imports from
foreign suppliers. Actions over the past few years have reflected an ongoing emphasis on the latter two legs of
the stool as new international projects (e.g., CGN’s new Ortalyk JV, which includes the Central Mynkuduk and
Zhalpak mines, as well as CGN’s new JV Ulba fuel fabrication project both with KAP) have moved forward while
also signing multiple new large uranium supply contracts with a variety of major primary uranium producers.
These trends are unlikely to let up in the coming years, especially as China’s utilities increasingly feel confident
about their future reactor demand growth and fuel needs”. - UxC
The ‘Alashankou’ warehouse on the Kazakh-Chinese border is expected to hold an amount equal to around 40m
lbs, or the annual production of Kazakhstan.

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At the current rate of Chinese procurement, we could see 1bn lbs of uranium sequestered from the market
over the next 15 years, equivalent to 7.6x global annual production.
In 2019, the EU and US accounted for over half of nuclear energy production, however, with such aggressive
plans for expansion, forecasts show China will quickly overtake both in becoming the global nuclear powerhouse.
Couple this with countries like Germany who have now closed their remaining three nuclear plants and it
becomes quickly apparent how China will soon assert dominance on production and therefore consumption of
nuclear fuel

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tphuang said:

From world's largest producer of Uranium. Kazakhstan sold 85% of its Uranium to China and Russia (45% for China and 40% for Russia). Russia seems to be enriching them and re-exporting them abroad.

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