Uranium prices hit all-time high

Uranium prices have hit an all-time high, with artificial intelligence data centers driving increased demand for nuclear fuel. comes as large data center operators have begun prioritizing nuclear power as a crucial energy source for their operations. According to an FT report, the price of enriched uranium reached $190 per separative work unit, which measures the effort needed to separate uranium isotopes. This is a marked increase from $56 three years ago.

Last year, both AWS and Microsoft signed agreements to offtake power from nuclear power stations. In addition, Meta launched a request for proposals to identify potential nuclear energy developers to support 1.4GW of new nuclear generation capacity across the US. The market is expected to become even more constrained when a US waiver for importers expires at the end of 2027. This will pressure the sector to find new facilities that can convert uranium into pellets used to fuel reactors.

A squeeze in availability could increase prices for immediate delivery, analysts said. “We see increasingly that Kazakh material will flow to China and Russia, and less of it will go west,” said Andre Liebenberg, chief executive of London-listed uranium investment vehicle Yellow Cake. “We could easily see a supply crunch in the medium term just because of the lack of new projects that can come on stream quickly.”