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"Cameco expects global consumption to rise from 170-million pounds to 220-million pounds by 2022, with the global reactor fleet increasing from 430 to more than 520 by 2022. China accounts for 28 of the new reactors planned or already being built.

Many of Cameco’s views were mirrored by World Nuclear Association senior project manager Ian Emsley. “Under our central scenario, things will pick up pretty quickly to 2020 and then accelerate even more after that. But projections into the future cannot be considered as cast-iron guarantees of course,” he told Mining Weekly.

“China wants to be a leader in nuclear power generation,” he added. “Reports indicate they are making good progress and we’ve no reason to doubt their ambitions in this regard. We believe they’ll be building about half of the additional new reactors in the world for the next 15 or 16 years.”

Commentators also stress the ending by the close of 2013 of Russia’s programme to supply material obtained through reprocessing high-enriched uranium, as a further macro bonus. This will represent the withdrawal of around 24-million pounds of uranium, according to Cameco.

Another support will come from potential supply squeezes as demand grows and new projects take time to bring on stream. “[Project development] takes seven, eight, nine years. So the longer we wait for the signal to bring on new production, the longer it will be at the other end when we bring it on,” Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel said on a conference call.

Cameco has first-hand knowledge regarding the time it takes; the company holds a 50% stake in the Cigar Lake uranium project that was meant to come on stream in 2007, but is only now about to enter production having suffered several delays."

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/canadian-uranium-sector-prepares-for-rising-tide-while-watching-quebec-sink-2013-09-20