Comment: Suprising that Cameco Corp owns a Nuke Plant!!!! No wonder they are coming south to Virginia, out west America taking uranium back to Canada!
Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:32am EDT
NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Bruce Power LP shut the 795-megawatt Unit 8 at the Bruce nuclear power station in Ontario on July 14 at the request of the grid operator for what is expected to be a brief outage due to surplus baseload generation in the province, the company said in a release.
Temperatures in Toronto will reach 23 Celsius (74 F) on Tuesday with no humidity, according to AccuWeather, keeping cooling demand low. That is a few degrees below the average high of 26 degrees C for this time of year.
Before Bruce 8 shut, all of the baseload nuclear units and most of the coal units in Ontario were available for service.
Baseload units usually operate around the clock to meet a grid's minimum generation needs.
The 6,261 MW Bruce station is located in Tiverton on the eastern shore of Lake Huron about 155 miles (250 km) northwest of Toronto. There are four 750 MW units, 1 to 4, at the A station, which entered service in 1977-1979, and three 822 MW units, 5 to 7, and one 795 MW unit, 8, at the B station, which entered service in 1984-1987.
The company expects to increase Unit 8's output to about 822 MW by modifying the fuel-loading system later this year.
All of the other units remained available for service.
One MW powers about 1,000 homes in Ontario.
Bruce Power LP, of Tiverton, Ontario, operates the entire Bruce complex and leases the Bruce B station from Ontario Power Generation, the province-owned generating company.
Bruce Power LP is owned by uranium miner Cameco Corp (CCO.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (31.6 percent), energy company TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (31.6 percent), BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust, an investment entity owned by Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (31.6 percent), the Power Workers' Union (4 percent) and the Society of Energy Professionals (1.2 percent).
Bruce Power A LP, which leases the Bruce A station from OPG, was set up when Bruce Power and the government agreed to restore the A station to full service. It is a partnership among TransCanada (47.4 percent), BPC (47.4 percent), the Power Workers' Union (4 percent) and the Society of Energy Professionals (1.2 percent).
BRUCE A RESTART
The company plans to restart Units 1 and 2 in early 2010, at an estimated cost of up to C$3.4 billion.
Ontario Hydro, the former province-owned power company, shut Unit 1 in 1997 and Unit 2 in 1995 because they needed extensive upgrades.
The return of Units 1 and 2 would replace more than 20 percent of the province's 6,400 MW of coal-fired generation, which the government wants to shut by 2014 for health and environmental reasons.
Bruce also planned to refurbish the other Bruce A units.
Bruce expects Unit 3 to remain in commercial service until at least 2011 before refurbishing the unit to increase its life to 2038 and beyond.
Unit 4 is expected to remain in service until 2016 before its refurbishment, which will increase its life until 2042.
In addition, Bruce is considering refurbishing the four Bruce B reactors and/or building new reactors, Bruce C, at the station.
In 2007, Bruce launched an environmental assessment of the possible Bruce C project that would add 4,000 MW by about 2016.
Previously, Bruce said it would need to refurbish the four Bruce B units between 2015 and 2020. The company said it would decide in the future whether to refurbish the existing units, replace them with new reactors or both. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSN1425530720090714
Showing posts with label Cameco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cameco. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
One useful thing
Comment: everyone is fighting uranium mining, maybe we need to protest May 21!!!
One useful thing May 7
by Emily
I’m still unemployed and one of the problems with been unemployed is that it is hard to feel very purposeful. I get to the end of each day and I wonder if I have contributed anything even slightly useful to the world. So you start digging. For example, today I cut up two very big pumpkins so that Sue could make pumpkin soup for the women’s retreat and I was like wow what a productive day I had. I have always believed that we are more than what we do. That our identity comes from something beyond what we do but in practice I am finding it hard to live that out.
However, yesterday I did something truly useful.
I attended a protest against uranium mining. 23km out of Alice Springs a mining company called Cameco, begun exploring further for uranium.
They have done this without consultation with the indigenous people of the land (despite saying that they had) and without the environmental impact statement been completed (not that I think that would be anything but crap, there is nothing environmental about mining).
We did invite representatives to come and talk to us further about it and perhaps explain how but they refused (what a suprise).
It is not good for the environment, it is not good for the indigenous people and it is not good for Alice Springs (we don’t even need the jobs).
Anyway, it was good to feel like I did one thing in my day that would have an impact. Well I hope so. It would be truly a tragedy if this mine went ahead.
http://emily.footboot.net/2009/05/07/one-useful-thing/
One useful thing May 7
by Emily
I’m still unemployed and one of the problems with been unemployed is that it is hard to feel very purposeful. I get to the end of each day and I wonder if I have contributed anything even slightly useful to the world. So you start digging. For example, today I cut up two very big pumpkins so that Sue could make pumpkin soup for the women’s retreat and I was like wow what a productive day I had. I have always believed that we are more than what we do. That our identity comes from something beyond what we do but in practice I am finding it hard to live that out.
However, yesterday I did something truly useful.
I attended a protest against uranium mining. 23km out of Alice Springs a mining company called Cameco, begun exploring further for uranium.
They have done this without consultation with the indigenous people of the land (despite saying that they had) and without the environmental impact statement been completed (not that I think that would be anything but crap, there is nothing environmental about mining).
We did invite representatives to come and talk to us further about it and perhaps explain how but they refused (what a suprise).
It is not good for the environment, it is not good for the indigenous people and it is not good for Alice Springs (we don’t even need the jobs).
Anyway, it was good to feel like I did one thing in my day that would have an impact. Well I hope so. It would be truly a tragedy if this mine went ahead.
http://emily.footboot.net/2009/05/07/one-useful-thing/
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Cameco Q1 net profit falls 40 per cent on weak uranium and gold results
Comment: did I hear someone say the uranium from Virginia will stay in the states, don't think so!!! Uranium Mining co are losing money so they are depending on future Nuke plants built outside US!!!
10 hours ago
TORONTO — Cameco Corp. (TSX:CCO) said Friday its first quarter profit fell by 40 per cent compared with the same period last year on weaker results from its uranium and gold businesses and higher costs.
Cameco chief executive Jerry Grandey said the company's costs of sales are expected to rise by 15 to 20 per cent as it purchases uranium at "substantially" higher prices than its cost of production to take advantage of trading opportunities.
"While we are reporting lower net earnings than the comparable quarter of 2008, a major component of that change relates to opportunities Cameco finds in the uranium market," Grandey said in a conference call Friday.
"Our reason for purchasing in the first quarter was for one purpose only: to seize trading opportunities which our marketing staff identified."
He added that he expects the higher costs to be offset down the road.
"We will realize additional revenue and earnings as we deliver the purchased material to our customers," Grandey said.
The world's biggest uranium miner, which also has nuclear power generation and gold businesses, said its first-quarter profit fell to $82 million or 22 cents a share from $133 million or 39 cents a share a year earlier. Revenues rose to $615 million from $593 million.
The Saskatoon-based company said it generated lower earnings in the uranium and gold businesses, but that was partially offset by improved results in its electricity division.
Cameco is working on exiting the gold business and expects higher uranium prices to bolster its results in the future, Grandey said.
"Investors should rest assured that our customers both current and potential need secure long-term uranium supply as nuclear power generation expands, an expansion that is real and happening now."
Ten new nuclear reactors are currently under construction and Grandey said he expects 95 new reactors to come online over the next 10 years. He said many of these reactors are in Asia, where utilities are investing in mine development and buying future supply.
"In doing so, they see that securing fuel for their reactors must cover the cost of bringing new deposits into production, and this bodes well for the long-term price of uranium," he said.
The spot price of uranium fell dramatically as the global financial crisis cut industrial demand for electricity, from US$90 a pound at the beginning of 2008 to $40 a pound in early 2009.
It has since rebounded slightly to about $44 a pound, and Grandey said he expects it has hit bottom and will continue its upward trajectory.
Cameco has uranium mines, mills, conversion plants and exploration projects in Saskatchewan, Ontario, the United States and Australia. It also has a controlling stake in Centerra Gold (TSX:CG), a Toronto-based miner with operations in central Asia.
Last month, Cameco agreed to transfer a stake in Centerra Gold to the Kyrgyz Republic in a move that resolved a dispute over the Kumtor gold mine, Centerra's main asset.
When the deal is finalized, the Central Asian government would own up to 33 per cent of Centerra, Cameco at least 37.8 per cent, and remaining shareholders about 29.2 per cent.
Cameco estimates it had a pre-tax loss of about $113 million at the end of the quarter because of the agreement, as well as an after-tax recovery of $17 million from prior years.
On the electricity side, Cameco is a key partner in the Bruce Power nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario.
Grandey cautioned that Bruce Power's earnings could decline by five to 10 per cent for 2009 because of "projected lower realized prices."
Cameco also continues to work on cleaning up flooding problems at its Cigar Lake development project in Saskatchewan, a project expected to take most of 2009 to complete.
"We know that many of you are impatient to see development resume," Grandey told investors and analysts. "We are too, but we intend to do it systematically to assure success at each stage. Like one of Faberge's eggs, the ore body is too valuable to cut corners in its development."
Cameco shares were up $1.36 or almost five per cent to $28.76 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jCJGNwbY399sZQVVIM8LQzuoGpnQ
10 hours ago
TORONTO — Cameco Corp. (TSX:CCO) said Friday its first quarter profit fell by 40 per cent compared with the same period last year on weaker results from its uranium and gold businesses and higher costs.
Cameco chief executive Jerry Grandey said the company's costs of sales are expected to rise by 15 to 20 per cent as it purchases uranium at "substantially" higher prices than its cost of production to take advantage of trading opportunities.
"While we are reporting lower net earnings than the comparable quarter of 2008, a major component of that change relates to opportunities Cameco finds in the uranium market," Grandey said in a conference call Friday.
"Our reason for purchasing in the first quarter was for one purpose only: to seize trading opportunities which our marketing staff identified."
He added that he expects the higher costs to be offset down the road.
"We will realize additional revenue and earnings as we deliver the purchased material to our customers," Grandey said.
The world's biggest uranium miner, which also has nuclear power generation and gold businesses, said its first-quarter profit fell to $82 million or 22 cents a share from $133 million or 39 cents a share a year earlier. Revenues rose to $615 million from $593 million.
The Saskatoon-based company said it generated lower earnings in the uranium and gold businesses, but that was partially offset by improved results in its electricity division.
Cameco is working on exiting the gold business and expects higher uranium prices to bolster its results in the future, Grandey said.
"Investors should rest assured that our customers both current and potential need secure long-term uranium supply as nuclear power generation expands, an expansion that is real and happening now."
Ten new nuclear reactors are currently under construction and Grandey said he expects 95 new reactors to come online over the next 10 years. He said many of these reactors are in Asia, where utilities are investing in mine development and buying future supply.
"In doing so, they see that securing fuel for their reactors must cover the cost of bringing new deposits into production, and this bodes well for the long-term price of uranium," he said.
The spot price of uranium fell dramatically as the global financial crisis cut industrial demand for electricity, from US$90 a pound at the beginning of 2008 to $40 a pound in early 2009.
It has since rebounded slightly to about $44 a pound, and Grandey said he expects it has hit bottom and will continue its upward trajectory.
Cameco has uranium mines, mills, conversion plants and exploration projects in Saskatchewan, Ontario, the United States and Australia. It also has a controlling stake in Centerra Gold (TSX:CG), a Toronto-based miner with operations in central Asia.
Last month, Cameco agreed to transfer a stake in Centerra Gold to the Kyrgyz Republic in a move that resolved a dispute over the Kumtor gold mine, Centerra's main asset.
When the deal is finalized, the Central Asian government would own up to 33 per cent of Centerra, Cameco at least 37.8 per cent, and remaining shareholders about 29.2 per cent.
Cameco estimates it had a pre-tax loss of about $113 million at the end of the quarter because of the agreement, as well as an after-tax recovery of $17 million from prior years.
On the electricity side, Cameco is a key partner in the Bruce Power nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario.
Grandey cautioned that Bruce Power's earnings could decline by five to 10 per cent for 2009 because of "projected lower realized prices."
Cameco also continues to work on cleaning up flooding problems at its Cigar Lake development project in Saskatchewan, a project expected to take most of 2009 to complete.
"We know that many of you are impatient to see development resume," Grandey told investors and analysts. "We are too, but we intend to do it systematically to assure success at each stage. Like one of Faberge's eggs, the ore body is too valuable to cut corners in its development."
Cameco shares were up $1.36 or almost five per cent to $28.76 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jCJGNwbY399sZQVVIM8LQzuoGpnQ
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Lehman Sitting on Bomb’s Worth of Uranium Cake as Prices Slump
Comment: Now this is scary, banks with uranium, what's next with the banks!
By Linda Sandler, Yuriy Humber and Christopher Scinta
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is sitting on enough uranium cake to make a nuclear bomb as it waits for prices of the commodity to rebound, according to traders and nuclear experts.
The bankrupt bank, in the throes of paying off creditors, acquired uranium cake “under a matured commodities contract” and plans to sell it when the market improves “to realize the best prices,” Chief Executive Officer Bryan Marsal said.
Lehman, once the fourth-largest investment bank, has an estimated $200 billion in unsecured liabilities left to pay.
The uranium, which may be as much as 500,000 pounds, might fetch $20 million at today’s prices of about $40 per pound, said traders who asked not to be named because of the confidential nature of the data. Marsal said the traders’ estimate of Lehman’s uranium holding is “reasonable,” while declining to be more specific.
Uranium has dropped for five straight months from $55 a pound on Dec. 1 on concerns that countries including China and India would delay nuclear power projects because of the global economic crisis, and because Lehman might dump its radioactive material on the market, the traders said.
More than 43 million pounds of uranium-oxide concentrate, or yellowcake equivalent sold on the spot market last year, more than doubling the 2007 trading volume, according to Roswell, Georgia-based Ux Consulting Co.
The oversupply in an illiquid market pushed prices down about 30 percent between September and November, spurring sales by speculative investors, such as hedge funds, said John Wong, a fund manager in London at CQS UK LLP, which has $6 billion under management including shares of funds that own uranium.
Not Liquid Market
“
What people found out is that this is not like playing copper where it’s a liquid and deep market,” Wong said. “A lot of the funds playing this market have blown up.”
Uranium typically trades through broker-dealers, including MF Global Ltd. and Tullett Prebon Plc, or in direct sales between mining companies and nuclear utilities. Utilities buy processed ore known as yellowcake, which is later converted, enriched and fabricated into fuel rods. The New York Stock Exchange also supports trading in futures contracts, which are not linked to physical delivery.
The market is regulated by governments, who control transport of radioactive material and limit the number of buyers and sellers by requiring them to obtain licenses. Utilities and producers are key buyers and sellers. Lehman got its license just a month before its bankruptcy, one of the traders said.
A supply of 500,000 pounds of yellowcake is just “slightly” less than the amount needed to make one bomb, or fuel one nuclear power reactor for a year, if the latest enrichment technologies are used, said Gennady Pshakin, an Obninsk, Russia-based nonproliferation expert.
Unloading Everything
Lehman, before filing for bankruptcy protection in September, actively traded commodities in the broker-dealer market and on exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. After filing, it began unloading holdings of everything, including greenhouse-gas credits, traders said. Uncertainty about the bank’s plans for its uranium is helping to depress prices, Wong said.
“Everyone knows there’s still an overhang,” he said. If Lehman sold its remaining stockpile, “there’d be a tightness in the market immediately.”
Lehman “tested” the uranium market after its bankruptcy filing in an effort to raise cash, pulling back after it did because “everyone was low balling,” Marsal said. With $10 billion in the till today from other asset sales, Lehman isn’t in a hurry any longer to sell uranium, he said.
“We plan on gradually selling this material over the next two years,” he said. “We are not dumping this on the market and have no fire-sale mentality.”
Forced to Liquidate
Lehman’s bankruptcy forced it to liquidate assets to pay creditors. Some $400 billion out of $639 billion in assets were offset by matching liabilities, Marsal said.
The bank raised a quick $1.75 billion in September by selling its North American brokerage and real estate to Barclays Plc. It later got the London-based bank to return thousands of Lehman-logoed knickknacks that also will be sold to pay creditors, the bank said. They include tote bags, umbrellas, stress balls, Tiffany paperweights and other items now stored in closets and warehouses from New York to Chicago.
Lehman’s radioactive material is partly stored in Canada, Marsal said. One trader, who declined to specify a date, said he was offered 450,000 pounds of Lehman uranium stored in facilities owned by Canada’s Cameco Corp. and France’s Areva SA.
“When Lehman first approached the market to sell the material, they had a flawed market strategy,” said Kevin Smith, head of uranium trading and marketing at commodities brokerage Traxys SA. “They were trying to sell it all as a block and part of it was at a less desirable location. It was a take-it-or- leave-it offer, so everyone left it.”
The bankruptcy case is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 08-13555, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporters on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net; Yuriy Humber in Moscow at yhumber@bloomberg.net; Christopher Scinta in New York bankruptcy court at csinta@bloomberg.net.Last Updated: April 14, 2009 00:01 EDT
By Linda Sandler, Yuriy Humber and Christopher Scinta
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is sitting on enough uranium cake to make a nuclear bomb as it waits for prices of the commodity to rebound, according to traders and nuclear experts.
The bankrupt bank, in the throes of paying off creditors, acquired uranium cake “under a matured commodities contract” and plans to sell it when the market improves “to realize the best prices,” Chief Executive Officer Bryan Marsal said.
Lehman, once the fourth-largest investment bank, has an estimated $200 billion in unsecured liabilities left to pay.
The uranium, which may be as much as 500,000 pounds, might fetch $20 million at today’s prices of about $40 per pound, said traders who asked not to be named because of the confidential nature of the data. Marsal said the traders’ estimate of Lehman’s uranium holding is “reasonable,” while declining to be more specific.
Uranium has dropped for five straight months from $55 a pound on Dec. 1 on concerns that countries including China and India would delay nuclear power projects because of the global economic crisis, and because Lehman might dump its radioactive material on the market, the traders said.
More than 43 million pounds of uranium-oxide concentrate, or yellowcake equivalent sold on the spot market last year, more than doubling the 2007 trading volume, according to Roswell, Georgia-based Ux Consulting Co.
The oversupply in an illiquid market pushed prices down about 30 percent between September and November, spurring sales by speculative investors, such as hedge funds, said John Wong, a fund manager in London at CQS UK LLP, which has $6 billion under management including shares of funds that own uranium.
Not Liquid Market
“
What people found out is that this is not like playing copper where it’s a liquid and deep market,” Wong said. “A lot of the funds playing this market have blown up.”
Uranium typically trades through broker-dealers, including MF Global Ltd. and Tullett Prebon Plc, or in direct sales between mining companies and nuclear utilities. Utilities buy processed ore known as yellowcake, which is later converted, enriched and fabricated into fuel rods. The New York Stock Exchange also supports trading in futures contracts, which are not linked to physical delivery.
The market is regulated by governments, who control transport of radioactive material and limit the number of buyers and sellers by requiring them to obtain licenses. Utilities and producers are key buyers and sellers. Lehman got its license just a month before its bankruptcy, one of the traders said.
A supply of 500,000 pounds of yellowcake is just “slightly” less than the amount needed to make one bomb, or fuel one nuclear power reactor for a year, if the latest enrichment technologies are used, said Gennady Pshakin, an Obninsk, Russia-based nonproliferation expert.
Unloading Everything
Lehman, before filing for bankruptcy protection in September, actively traded commodities in the broker-dealer market and on exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. After filing, it began unloading holdings of everything, including greenhouse-gas credits, traders said. Uncertainty about the bank’s plans for its uranium is helping to depress prices, Wong said.
“Everyone knows there’s still an overhang,” he said. If Lehman sold its remaining stockpile, “there’d be a tightness in the market immediately.”
Lehman “tested” the uranium market after its bankruptcy filing in an effort to raise cash, pulling back after it did because “everyone was low balling,” Marsal said. With $10 billion in the till today from other asset sales, Lehman isn’t in a hurry any longer to sell uranium, he said.
“We plan on gradually selling this material over the next two years,” he said. “We are not dumping this on the market and have no fire-sale mentality.”
Forced to Liquidate
Lehman’s bankruptcy forced it to liquidate assets to pay creditors. Some $400 billion out of $639 billion in assets were offset by matching liabilities, Marsal said.
The bank raised a quick $1.75 billion in September by selling its North American brokerage and real estate to Barclays Plc. It later got the London-based bank to return thousands of Lehman-logoed knickknacks that also will be sold to pay creditors, the bank said. They include tote bags, umbrellas, stress balls, Tiffany paperweights and other items now stored in closets and warehouses from New York to Chicago.
Lehman’s radioactive material is partly stored in Canada, Marsal said. One trader, who declined to specify a date, said he was offered 450,000 pounds of Lehman uranium stored in facilities owned by Canada’s Cameco Corp. and France’s Areva SA.
“When Lehman first approached the market to sell the material, they had a flawed market strategy,” said Kevin Smith, head of uranium trading and marketing at commodities brokerage Traxys SA. “They were trying to sell it all as a block and part of it was at a less desirable location. It was a take-it-or- leave-it offer, so everyone left it.”
The bankruptcy case is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 08-13555, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporters on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net; Yuriy Humber in Moscow at yhumber@bloomberg.net; Christopher Scinta in New York bankruptcy court at csinta@bloomberg.net.Last Updated: April 14, 2009 00:01 EDT
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