NexGen inks uranium sales agreements with major US utilities

Nexgen Energy

04/12/2024 12:30

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Canada-based uranium miner NexGen
Energy  NXE.TO  said on Wednesday it has penned agreements with
multiple U.S. utility companies to supply 5 million pounds of
the nuclear fuel ingredient.
    
    WHY ITS IMPORTANT
        Nuclear power has seen a 
    revival
     in the recent years fueled by the rapid development of
artificial intelligence (AI) and power-hungry data centers even
as major companies have made commitments to achieve carbon
neutrality within the next decade.
  
        NexGen Energy is also in discussions with additional
U.S., European, and Asian utilities for similar contracts.
  
    
    CONTEXT
    The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates
record-high power consumption in 2024 and 2025, fueled by
increasing demand from AI use, data-center expansion, and
residential and commercial consumers.
    
    KEY QUOTE
    "Energy demand from reliable sources is increasing by the
week with the need to expand existing nuclear energy
infrastructure and the construction of power consuming data
centres at a time the security of uranium supply is under
significant technical and sovereign risk" said Leigh Curyer,
Chief Executive Officer of NexGen Energy.
    
    SHARE REACTION
    U.S.-listed shares of Nexgen Energy rose 2.2% to $8.3 in
premarket trading.

 (Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
 ((Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com;))