Part 1 of 2 Parts
     A major issue with nuclear power is the question of who will pay if and when there is a major nuclear accident. This issue is being hotly debated in the global industry. Many nuclear experts believe that the maximum amount nuclear owners and operators must pay in the case of a major nuclear accident is far too low. Currently, the rest of the cost will be borne by the taxpayers.
     Recently, the U.K. became the first country in Europe to invest in the next generation of nuclear fuel, with the government awarding two hundred million dollars to Urenco to build a uranium enrichment facility.
     Tomasz Libront is the CEO of the Polish reinsurance broker Smartt Re which specializes in covering difficult-to-insure risks in key sectors including nuclear, conventional and renewable energy. He offered an overview of the Polish insurance market today, noting that it has the capacity to insure the risk of nuclear power plants under construction up to a maximum of seven hundred and fifty million dollars gross.
     Libront said, “It is still difficult to determine the needs of the domestic nuclear sector, but with the scale of planned investments, the Polish market will need much more capacity. How much? It all depends on the insurance strategy adopted and agreements with foreign reinsurers. It can be assumed that the insurance capacity needed will be determined by the value of the probable maximum loss (PML) – which is difficult to estimate accurately at such an early stage of investment, but certainly exceeds the current capacity of the Polish insurance market by several times.”
     Libront examined what can be done to encourage greater investment and capacity into the sector. He emphasized the importance of having a comprehensive, long-term strategy in place. He believes that the role of reinsurance and insurance players in the Polish market is not only to provide insurance and reinsurance capacity but also to collaborate to ensure that they play an important role in the current energy transition.
     Libront continued, “Our motto at Smartt Re is to be like a compass in the difficult world of reinsurance. So, we enable the collaboration and integrate all the stakeholders. For example, our April’s Nuclear Insurance Day conference brought together the perspectives and experiences of the worlds of reinsurance, insurance, nuclear industry, and public administration from Poland and abroad in the search for sources of resilience and financial security for the Polish nuclear power sector.”
     Smartt Re’s path to the insurance of nuclear power facilities has taken it through the world of conventional power including coal, natural gas, solar and wind renewable power to non-carbon nuclear. Libront noted that it has not been an easy journey. There have been many difficulties with conventional energy insurance and reinsurance since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.
     With a better understanding of where the Polish economy is going in terms of the energy transition, Libront was sure it would be easier to get the right coverage. However, now the capacity is limited. Where there is the appetite for such risk, the prices are skyrocketing.
Please read Part 2 next

Ambient office = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Purple onion from Central Market = 143 nanosieverts per hour

Purple onion Tap water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Mini cucumber from Central Market = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Green onion from Central Market = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 67 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 106 nanosieverts per hour

     Tim Gitzel is the CEO of Cameco, the Canadian nuclear fuel company. He said that the results for the first quarter of 2024 included losses of five million dollars. The losses were driven by normal quarterly variations, coupled with costs related to its acquisition last year of Westinghouse.
      Gitzel said, “In the first quarter operational performance was strong across our uranium, fuel services and Westinghouse segments. Financial results are in line with the 2024 outlook we provided, which has not changed, and are as expected, reflecting normal quarterly variability and the required purchase accounting and other non-operational acquisition-related costs for Westinghouse.”
     Gitzel added that first-quarter production results were “strong and are on track with our 2024 plans”. Attributable uranium production for the quarter was five million eight hundred thousand pounds of U3O8. This represents a year-on-year increase of one million eight hundred thousand pounds of U3O8. The mining operations at McArthur River/Key Lake and Cigar Lake are each expected to produce eighteen million pounds of U3O8 (on a one hundred percent basis) in 2024.
     Cameco closed its purchase of Westinghouse, in a strategic partnership with Brookfield, last November. Cameco now owns a forty-nine percent interest and Brookfield owns the remaining fifty-one percent. The company had previously said it expects this to generate a net loss of between one hundred and twenty-three million dollars and one hundred and sixty-seven million dollars in 2024 due to the impact of the purchase accounting, which requires the revaluation of Westinghouse’s inventory and other assets at the time of acquisition. Expensing of some non-operating acquisition-related transition costs will be included. Ninety million dollars of the expected net loss for Westinghouse in 2024 was incurred in the first quarter “due to normal variability in the timing of its customer requirements and delivery and outage schedules”.
     Westinghouse’s first quarter “is typically its weakest”, according to Cameco. This was stated in its quarterly in-depth management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A) document. Stronger performance is expected in the second half of the year, and higher expected cash flows in the fourth quarter. Gitzel said that the company was “delighted” with its acquisition of Westinghouse. He told investors that “It’s even better than we thought when we bought it. The potential there in all elements of their business is really good.”
     Production from the Inkai joint venture in Kazakhstan was slightly down year-on-year. One million six hundred thousand pounds of U3O8 produced this quarter compared with one million nine hundred thousand pounds in the same period in 2023 (both on a 100% basis). Inkai’s current production target for 2024 is eight million three hundred thousand pounds of U3O8 (100% basis). However, procurement and supply chain issues, most notably related to the availability of sulphuric acid, mean that this target is tentative.
     Cameco said that it is working with its closely with JV Inkai and its joint venture partner Kazatomprom to receive its share of production via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which does not rely on Russian rail lines or ports. However, it warned that delays to deliveries could happen “if transportation using this shipping route takes longer than anticipated”.
     Cameco said that “To mitigate the risk of transportation delays or production shortfalls, we have inventory, long-term purchase agreements and loan arrangements in place we can draw on.”

Ambient office = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 123 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Corn from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 76 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 66 nanosieverts per hour