No abstract available

[en] The Uranium Institute, WNFM, and past USCEA sessions described and compared existing price reporting systems. The McGraw-Hill conference led to a rather heated discussion as to the propriety of spot prices having the influence they do on amounts paid in long-term contracts. The Ux representative proposed a future's market as a way that producers could hedge against some of the uncertainty of volatile spot market. In discussing the search for the elusive long-term price, there are two interrelated issues. The first is obvious-the search for a starting or initializing price that is representative of recently-signed or pending long-term contracts. The second is less obvious, but perhaps more important-the search for a successful mechanism for determining later delivery values in long-term contracts. This paper addresses the question of pricing mechanisms first

[en] Ambitious nuclear power programmes in both the USA and USSR during the 1970s led to the build up of large inventories of uranium in both countries. The accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and economic difficulties halted the programmes, leaving large stockpiles of uranium. The increased availability to the market of surplus inventories from these, and other countries such as Canada and Germany, has had an important effect on uranium prices. As prices have fallen in recent years, both North American uranium production has declined and there has been a concentration in the ownership of production as companies have left the industry. An increase during the 1980s in the ability of one type of uranium to be used in place of another, was made possible by changes in enrichment contracting and trade policies as well as by political developments in Eastern Europe. Just as features of uranium supply are changing, so too are those of uranium demand. A strong correlation exists between consumption and market demand over long periods, but in the short term this correlation is much weaker. For instance, market demand can be decreasing while consumption is increasing if utilities are decreasing their inventory holdings. Factors such as this and others contributing to a complex picture are examined. (UK)