spot price

Uranium at record high, expected to rise furthur
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spot uranium prices are at all-time highs and should continue to rise through the end of the year, as demand for the nuclear power reactor fuel remains strong, according to uranium analysts.

Since the late June, the spot price of uranium has been at about $45.50 per pound, according to data from Ux Consulting Co. LLC, beating the prior high of $45 set in June 1978, before the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.

Ux Consulting, Roswell, Georgia-based uranium consultant and publisher of world uranium prices, expects uranium prices to reach $50 or higher by the end of the year.

In a research report, Merrill Lynch analysts said prices, up more than four times (from about $11) since late 2003, have increased due in part to demand from the new power reactors currently under construction.

In June, there are 27 power reactors under construction, most in Asia or Eastern Europe (seven in India, four in China, four in Russia, two in Taiwan, two in Bulgaria and two in the Ukraine), according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. There are 442 nuclear power plants in operation