China Nuclear's Uranium Exploration Hampered by Price Falls

By Winnie Zhu

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- China National Nuclear Corp., the nation's biggest nuclear plant builder, said a decline in the spot price of uranium will affect the country's exploration for the fuel at home and overseas.

The company will continue to monitor prices and make necessary adjustments to exploration plans, China National Nuclear said in a statement on the Web site of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission yesterday.

Uranium has slumped 62 percent from a record $138 a pound in June last year as the credit crunch and a slowdown in the global economy saps worldwide demand. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials has lost about 50 percent from July's record. China National Nuclear and Shenzhen-based ZTE Energy Co. had plans to set up uranium mines in Niger.

The company is confident that the adverse impact from the financial crisis could be minimized as long as the company adopts effective measures, it said in the statement, without elaborating.

Production at the company's Niger project is slated to start next year, with annual output to reach 700 metric tons by 2011 and 1,000 tons ultimately, Chen Yuehui, deputy general manager of the overseas exploration unit, said June 12.

China aims to more than double the use of nuclear power to 5 percent of total electricity generation by 2020.

To contact the reporter on this story: Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at wzhu4@bloomberg.net;