You will not believe some of the comments coming from the PEN thread regarding the nuclear reactor problems in Japan:
"Talk of any impact on the nuclear industry is simply unfounded and should be ignored."
"To place that issue on here (issue regarding problems with nuclear reactor in Japan) - with the obvious implicit suggestion that it was somehow a threat to PEN (Uranium company based in Wyoming USA) - was just ridiculous. The earthquake will clearly impact decision making on nuclear issues in earthquake zones. But to imply that it will influence U mining in Wyoming or SA or the rapidly growing markets for U (in China/India in particular) growth plans is pure knee jerk fantasy."
IMO, some of the posters there clearly have no idea about how serious the impact will be on the entire nuclear and uranium industry if a meltdown or a major radiation leak occurs. Either that or their hoping that their posts will prevent a fall in the share price of the company they hold shares in when the market opens on Monday.
For the record, I have a very large holding of uranium shares in my portfolio and I am watching the situation very closely. However, unlike some posters, I prefer to discuss and to hear other peoples views on the matter and would also like to hear any current updates posters may have on the situation, particularly if they have contacts in Japan or are posters from Japan.
My personal thoughts on the matter are as follows:
1) Worse case scenario, should a meltdown occur, the expected Nuclear Renaissance will grind to a halt and all the additional demand for uranium that is expected to occur as a result of more nuclear reactors coming online will cease to exist or drop dramatically causing a possible crash in the uranium price similar to what happened after the three mile island incident in the US.
2) Even if a meltdown doesn't occur, there is an increased risk that the failure of the cooling systems in 2 of the nuclear power plants may result in further delays in new nuclear reactor approvals worldwide as additional safety requirements and design changes may be imposed to try to avoid similar problems from occuring again. This may result in a short to medium term drop in the demand for uranium as new nuclear reactors will be delayed until all parties are satisfied that these problems will not occur again. Greenies and anti-nuclear activist are also going to have a lot more ammunition to highlight the dangers of nuclear reactors.
3)Whilst the earthquake occured in Japan, the reactors cooling systems were actually damaged by debris from the tsunamis that resulted from the earthquake. The tsunami actually caused damaged as far as Oregon and California in the US. Nuclear power plants are normally built near the sea for easy access to water for cooling purposes so I think that it is naive and narrowminded to think that this will only effect nuclear reactors in earthquake zones especially since clearly all reactors along the shoreline are potentially exposed to tsunamis.
5)Also it is still uncertain how much damage the media has already done in spreading negativity about the safety of nuclear rectors in general. Important to note that there were no casualties at the Three mile Island incident and they actually managed to successfully prevent any radiation leaks and meltdowns. However, the bad publicity from the media and the movie 'The China Syndrome' and very vocal opposition from the public resulted in no new nuclear reactors being built in the US for the next 40 years and caused most uranium mines in the US to shutdown due to low uranium prices.
Unfortunately the situation appears to be worsening even as i'm typing this (i'm hoping it's just the media blowing things out of proportion again). Latest news report on google news with the heading 'Japan braces for nuclear meltdown':
Getting conflicting news reports with the one below stating the following:
"Japanese nuclear authorities say that there is a high possibility that nuclear fuel rods at a reactor at the Daiichi plant in Fukushima prefecture may be melting or have melted, Jiji news agency has reported"
