Why has there been renewed interest in nuclear power generation in the last couple of years, and how can we invest in it?
Topics covered include:
- Why did Microsoft sign an agreement to reopen a nuclear reactor at the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear facility
- How much does nuclear energy contribute to global power generation
- Why is the demand for electricity accelerating
- What are the advantages and challenges with nuclear energy
- What investment vehicles can individuals use to invest in nuclear energy
Show Notes
Inside Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant | BG2 w/ Bill Gurley & Brad Gerstner—YouTube
Q&A – Germany’s nuclear exit: One year after—Clean Energy Wire
Fukushima Daiichi Accident—World Nuclear Association
Chernobyl Accident 1986—World Nuclear Association
Nuclear Energy in a Low-Carbon Energy Future—NEI
Electricity Mid-Year Update – July 2024—IEA
What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?—U.S. Energy Information Administration
Investments Mentioned
Pelican Energy Partners
Sprott Physical Uranium Trust Performance (SRUUF)
GlobalX Uranium ETF (URA)
VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR)
Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (URNM)
Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF (URNJ)
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Transcript
Welcome to Money for the Rest of Us. This is a personal finance show on money, how it works, how to invest it, and how to live without worrying about it. I’m your host, David Stein. Today is episode 502. It’s titled, “Should You Invest in Nuclear Energy?”
A Nuclear Energy Resurgence
In late September this year, Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced that they had signed a 20-year power supply deal that included reopening Unit 1 at Three Mile Island. This is a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
I was recently talking to Christian Busken, who is head of real assets research at my previous advisory firm, FEG Advisors, and we laughed, because people my age, Christian’s age, when you say Three Mile Island, alarm bells go off, because in 1979 there was a cooling malfunction at Three Mile Island. It led to the release of radioactive gas and it was a turning point in terms of the U.S. public’s perception toward nuclear power.
I took a class in high school where we studied what happened at Three Mile Island. There have been other nuclear accidents. Most recently, Fukushima in Japan, after a major earthquake there and tsunami in 2011. There were radioactive releases there as the operators dealt with the aftermath of that earthquake and tsunami.
In 1986, there was a Chernobyl accident which was the result of a flawed reactor design, and inadequate training of personnel. Germany announced that they were phasing out all their nuclear power generation. In 1995, it made up 30 percent of the power mix. By 2022, it dropped to about 6 percent, and they closed their last nuclear reactor last year.
We have then, at least in my lifetime, all these anecdotes about nuclear power. It’s dangerous. It causes accidents. But then I married into a family where my father-in-law is a nuclear health physicist. My brothers and sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews all work in the nuclear industry, in some capacity.
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