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Investing.com-- Uranium mining and nuclear technology stocks in Asia extended gains on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed executive orders aimed at reviving the U.S. nuclear industry.
Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN), Boss Resources Ltd (ASX:BOE), Deep Yellow Ltd (ASX:DYL), and Nexgen (NYSE:NXE) Energy rose between 6.9% and 16% by the market close on Monday. China’s China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd (SS:601985), China Nuclear Engineering Corp Ltd (SS:601611), and CGN Power Co Ltd (HK:1816) advanced between 1.5% and 6% by the midday break.
Trump on late-Friday signed four nuclear energy-related orders to speed up reactor testing, allow the Departments of Energy and Defense to build nuclear reactors on federal land, overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and boost U.S. mining and enrichment of uranium.
The move presents the prospect of increased demand for uranium in the U.S., which is likely to drive up prices of the material. Demand for more reactor technology- a bulk of which is developed by China and Russia- is also expected to increase, benefiting Chinese companies in the sector.
Global uranium demand has steadily declined since Japan’s Fukushima disaster in 2011, with Europe, the U.S., and Japan rapidly scuttling reactors and switching to alternative electricity sources on safety concerns.
But nuclear energy proponents were seen gaining traction in recent years, especially amid expectations of increased electricity requirements from the artificial intelligence industry.
Major AI spenders such as Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were also recently seen funding nuclear energy agreements to meet rapidly growing electricity demands from AI.
Australia is the world’s fourth-largest uranium producer, while China is no.8. Kazakhstan is the world’s biggest uranium producer, according to data from the World Nuclear Association.