Mr. Boris Schucht - CEO of Urenco, a uranium enrichment company partly co-owned by the UK and Dutch governments, said that the "nuclear power renaissance period" has begun and will accelerate due to the oil and gas shortage shock when the Ormuz Strait is closed.
According to him, Urenco currently has a record order worth 21.3 billion USD for uranium and nuclear fuel products.
The supply crisis in the Middle East will force policymakers and industry to re-focus on energy security and the need for stable, independent power sources from the risk of supply disruptions. This will make the deployment of nuclear energy even more important as countries seek energy autonomy," he said.
After a decade of many Western countries reducing dependence on nuclear power after the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, the industry began to revive when the Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupted global oil and gas supplies.
Analysts believe that the soaring energy prices due to the current crisis will continue to cause many governments to reconsider their previous opposition to nuclear power.
In a speech earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that reducing Europe's nuclear power industry is "a strategic mistake" because the region is facing escalating energy costs due to heavily dependent on electricity produced from oil and gas.
Meanwhile, Japan is also promoting the restart of nuclear reactors that have been temporarily suspended.
According to Mr. Schucht, the nuclear fuel supply chain is much more stable than oil and gas because power plants only need a small amount of fuel, do not have to refuel regularly and can be stored easily. Power companies often have nuclear fuel reserves sufficient for about 2 years.
Governments around the world are urgently seeking alternative energy sources to maintain economic activity after 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum products per day were disrupted due to the Iran conflict.
About 1/5 of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are also affected. This is considered the most serious energy shock since the 1970s oil crises.
Even if oil and gas prices increase only temporarily, the closure of the strait still raises questions about energy security," said analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith at Jefferies.
Mr. Seth Grae - CEO of Lightbridge Corporation, a nuclear fuel supplier, said that the Middle East crisis could cause countries to re-evaluate energy security, like after the oil shocks in the 1970s. At that time, France strongly expanded its nuclear reactors to reduce dependence on imported oil.
Mr. Schucht said that the nuclear industry grew rapidly before the Middle East crisis occurred, due to concerns about energy security after the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the need for stable and continuous power supply to serve artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
According to him, the increasing political support from the US and European governments for nuclear power is creating more confidence for investors and customers in the industry.
