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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According to State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) - parent company of Shandong Nuclear Power Company - the district heating network is expected to supply 4.6 million gigajoules of heat, which will save 410,000 tonnes of coal consumption and reduce CO2 emissions by 760,000 tonnes. It plans to be able to heat the city of Qingdao - population of more than 10 million - in 2026.

The district heating scheme at the Haiyang plant, which began as a demonstration project to show the feasibility of such a scheme, was put into operation in 2019. Each year it has been expanded, with heating capacity rising from an initial 31.5 MW to 1134 MW, and the area covered increasing 20-fold from an initial 700,000 square metres.
It says that over the past five winters the district heating scheme has provided 9.01 million GJ of heat, saving 810,000 tonnes of coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.49 million tonnes. It says that the air quality during winter in Haiyang "has improved significantly" and the area where the sea temperature is 2C hotter around the nuclear power plant has reduced by 41 hectares since the heating scheme's start.
Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant currently features two Westinghouse AP1000 units and SPIC says it is the world's largest such nuclear power plant cogeneration project. It says that with the commissioning of subsequent units - two CAP1000 units are currently under construction and up to four more are proposed - it is expected to provide heating for the city of Qingdao in 2026 and the long-term heating capacity will reach 200 million square metres.

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