Nuclear Power
Download MP3Welcome to Making Sense with Dustin Lamontagne from Research Capital. My name is Bryn Griffiths. I'm your host, and joining us is Dustin. How are you doing today?
Dustin Lamontagne:Really good, Bryn. How's yourself?
Bryn Griffiths:Fine. Thank you. What's powering this particular episode?
Dustin Lamontagne:Oh, I think it's, probably uranium. Is it 342? Is that the Oh, really? The the byproduct that makes yellow cake? Yeah, it's one of those.
Dustin Lamontagne:Yeah, talking about nuclear today. And it's fairly topical because you've got, you've got some new in Canada. Alberta's looking at it. Ontario's got one on the drawing board. So and Canada, whether people know it or not, we're, we're one of the world leaders in nuclear technology for for power generation.
Dustin Lamontagne:We export. Yeah, we export, we export the expertise to different countries. China, India, all use Japan, all use some some Canadian technology in their in their nuclear power. So
Bryn Griffiths:I I gotta tell you, we I was in the what was the Czech Czech Republic, 4 years ago, and they and, they had one, reactor there. Everyone loved it. Absolutely. They actually convinced me. I was kinda my jury was out on it.
Bryn Griffiths:But, after talking to everybody, they they said, no. It's really effective, and it's really working well for us. I guess here in Canada, we always wonder, is it safe? That's the the number one thing. But, everybody in the Czech Republic, now Czechia, they they, they were it Czechia, they they, they were it was big thumbs up from them.
Dustin Lamontagne:Well, and and greatly so to have some trepidation, you know, is it safe or not? I mean, you only have to look at Chernobyl or or Fukushima, or, you know, going back to 1979, Three Mile Island, right? Oh, yeah. Which is funny, because I read about a month and a half ago that the US is now looking at refiring up a Three Mile Island. Obviously building a brand new, using brand new technology for the reactor, but it's, it's a growing industry, that's for sure.
Dustin Lamontagne:Because nuclear makes up about, last I read was about 9 to 10 percent of global power, electricity generation. But in North America, it's 20%. So, and that 20% makes up 50% of the emission free power generation. So and of course, with with, you know, the the world concerned about climate change, the emissions are on the utility sector are one of the areas that are concentrated on to lower emissions. Which, which is one of the reasons I've been so bullish on natural gas over the last few years as well, because the US in particular has been converting coal plants to natural gas.
Dustin Lamontagne:So when I look at nuclear, I think the future is very bright, because, you know, there's there's about 100 reactors in North America generate roughly 100 gigawatts of power. And just a reminder, a gigawatt is a 1,000,000,000 watts. So that's a lot of power. But what what's really exciting is the the SMR technology that's coming out and that's SMR just is an acronym for Small Modular Reactors.
Bryn Griffiths:Okay.
Dustin Lamontagne:So what what those are designed is, instead of having these massive, you know, nuclear power plants, which are designed to power, you know, Toronto, a city the size of Toronto, you can have these small modular reactors, which might be, you know, good to power a city the size of Lesbridge, for example. And this technology has come a long way. They don't have it perfected as of yet, but there's a number of companies working on it. So to me that that is really exciting technology, because if they can generate through these SMRs, very safe, emission free electricity on a smaller basis. Imagine the consequences for rural Canada, for instance, you could drop an SMR in Yellowknife or Tuktuktuk or, you know, Dawson City and have very clean, reliable, efficient power.
Dustin Lamontagne:Now, you know, what's what's going to be the major beneficiary? Saskatchewan is going to do very well if nuclear is growing because of the uranium, right? So, Cameco, there's a number of companies that are on the research or sorry, on the exploration side in Saskatchewan, companies like Denison. So, you know, you're looking at probably maybe 20% to 30%, just just from what I've read a 20% to 30% increase in nuclear reactors, probably in the next 5 years. China and India are leading the way, but North America is finally starting to look at nuclear again.
Dustin Lamontagne:And I think it's a good thing. You know, when when you when you look at coal fired plants, they're fairly dirty. When you look at natural gas, they're they're a lot cleaner, but I think we're we're gonna need, you know, every bit of electricity generation that we can we can muster up because the demand from the the AI data centers coming coming down the pipe is about 10% of the nuclear generation. And that's, that's estimated to be every year for about the next 10 to 15 years. So if if the North American market is generating 100 gigawatts of power from nuclear, data centers alone are going to be 7 to 10 gigawatts of power each year for the next foreseeable future.
Dustin Lamontagne:So you're going to need solar, you're going to need wind, you're going to need nuclear and new natural gas capacity as well. If if it's estimated our electricity demand is going to double in the next 20 years in North America, that power is going to have to come from somewhere and nuclear is going to be a big part of that. John Slick Baum: Wow.
Bryn Griffiths:So how fast do you think it's going to move really?
Dustin Lamontagne:Well, that's the thing with nuclear is, if if you're talking the large plants, they they they take a long time to build. You know, you're you're talking about a 5 year, build build pocket in North America. Maybe they do it quicker in China because less regulations, or India as well. But in North America, from what I've read from start to finish, you're looking at a 5 year timeframe for, you know, one of these bigger projects. The SMRs could be a game changer.
Bryn Griffiths:Right?
Dustin Lamontagne:Those those are, the business model for SMRs is to build them in factories and deploy them out where they're needed. Right? The average SMR is designed to produce 300 megawatts. So roughly the quarter of, you know, an average large hydroelectric facility, for example.
Bryn Griffiths:The big
Dustin Lamontagne:ones in Manitoba and Quebec are all like 1,000 to 1200 megawatts of generation. So exciting technology, if these can be deployed, you know, imagine, you know, starting a new, you know, your Tesla and you want to start a new Gigafactory to produce batteries and you can power it with an SMR. It's, it's a game changer. So now
Bryn Griffiths:the,
Dustin Lamontagne:what is the cost of uranium going to, you know, if the demand is increasing at a huge rate, what's the cost of uranium going to rise to? Well, that we don't know. But there's a lot of uranium that can be put into market. So and Saskatchewan, I definitely think Saskatchewan is probably, you know, of all provinces, it's probably the set up the best right now for growth in in Canada.
Bryn Griffiths:Wow. I know you're watching all these offshoots for this. So, that's fantastic. If somebody's got a few questions on this, how do they get ahold of you?
Dustin Lamontagne:You can call me on my cell phone, 780-905-7729, or, you can get ahold of me at, on email, dlamonte@researchcapital.com.
Bryn Griffiths:Fascinating topic. Hey, Dustin. Thanks for this, and we'll talk to you later.
Dustin Lamontagne:Thanks, Bryn.
Bryn Griffiths:Well, that's it for today. We'll have more helpful hints coming your way on our next episode. And don't forget, all opinions expressed are solely Dustin's and do not reflect those of Research Capital. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions. Clients of Research Capital may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.
Bryn Griffiths:Thanks for listening to Making Sense. Have yourself a great day.
