Uranium Rally Falters on Japanese Nuclear Delays: Energy Markets

Uranium’s rally from a three-year low is stalling amid signs Japan, once the world’s third-biggest nuclear power producer, will keep all but a handful of its reactors offline this year.

The atomic fuel has slipped 6.8 percent to $42.40 a pound since the Liberal Democratic Party won Dec. 16 elections, erasing most of the 12 percent gain in the six weeks before the vote. While the LDP pledged to review the previous administration’s zero-nuclear policy, regulators probably won’t allow any more plants to start in 2013, a survey of power companies by Kyodo News showed. Uranium will average less than $48 a pound in the six months ending June, the lowest for this time of year since 2010, according to Credit Suisse Group AG.