Uranium supply will not be constraint to nuclear growth – Cameco chief

There are sufficient known uranium resources in the world that the supply of the metal will not be a constraint to the continued development of the nuclear energy industry, Cameco Corporation CEO Jerry Grandey said in Toronto on Tuesday. Speaking at a bilateral mining forum hosted by the Canada India Foundation, Grandey also said that Cameco is still looking to sign uranium supply agreement with Indian customers, but commented that the longer time taken by Canada to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement (NCA) with India meant that competitors from other countries previously had their feet in the door.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Indian leader Manmohan Singh sign a civil NCA in June, opening the way for the send abroad of nuclear technology, equipment and uranium to the fast-growing Asian nation. Canada was the eighth nation to sign such a deal with India since 2008, when the nuclear supplier Group lifted a 34-year ban on nuclear cooperation with India. “But frankly, it's a very forceful environment and Canada was a little bit slow in getting to a nuclear cooperation agreement,” Grandey commented.

“And we found that even though we were quite involved in bringing this NCA to fruition, that our competitors in France and Russia and Kazakhstan were well ahead of Canada in our capability to do nuclear trade.” Grandey said he is still hopeful that Cameco and Canada will connect in positive bilateral trade on uranium supply to India, which he sees as “step one”. “But, more importantly, we know that the Indian nuclear community needs to broaden its supply base to many other countries,” he added. There are still excessive levels of red tape bureaucracy that want to be dealt with in India to get possible partnerships and joint ventures moving though, Grandey commented.