Long term deals cushion $100/lb uranium

[Nuclear Fuel, 12 March] Analysts estimate the spot price of uranium to be around the $100/lb mark, although a supply contract has not yet occurred at such a price. The effect of utilities' use of long-term supply contracts has helped to keep fuel costs low: a financial report from Progress Energy, which owns four reactors in the USA, listed nuclear fuel costs for 2006 unchanged at about $1.50 per MWh generated - about the same as the last four years. This compares Progress' costs of around $10 per MWh for coal, the next cheapest fuel. Progress said it expected fuel costs to increase from $114 million in 2006, to $180 million in 2007, $170 million in 2008 and $210 million in 2009. Progress counted $267 million-worth of nuclear fuel among its assets.