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Speaker 1: Nuclear energy is in the headlines recently is the US.

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Speaker 1: Nuclear energy is in the headlines as the US considers

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Speaker 1: its energy future, and support for nuclear energy is making

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Speaker 1: a bit of resurgence now, I no, it can be

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Speaker 1: an emotive topic. But of course energy demand is rising,

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Speaker 1: not least driven by the rising demands of energy hungry

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Speaker 1: data centers, the likes of AI and cryptocurrency, and we

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Speaker 1: need clean energy sources. Some say that nuclear fits that.

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Speaker 1: Bill sam Decky from Fisher Funds is with us for

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Speaker 1: more on this, Gilda, Sam, oh, sorry, we'll last you there.

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Speaker 1: So talk to us a little bit about nuclear energy

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Speaker 1: and remind us about nuclear energy demand today compared to

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Speaker 1: the past and the future.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I's think a hot topic, Jack. And if you

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Speaker 2: look at total US electricity demand, the really interesting thing

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Speaker 2: is it's been basically flat in the US for fifteen

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Speaker 2: to twenty years. So demand growth of households has been

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Speaker 2: basically entirely offset by declining demand from industry as the

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Speaker 2: US is moved manufacturing offshore historically called as we know offshoring. However,

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Speaker 2: depending on which forecast, do you believe after decades of

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Speaker 2: that flat demand, demand growth is going to be about

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Speaker 2: five percent per annum for the next five to ten years,

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Speaker 2: which is a huge shift. And why is that? It's threefold? Ready,

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Speaker 2: The first is a ramp up in these you see

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Speaker 2: extremely energy hungry data centers as we store and utilize

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Speaker 2: tons and tons more data. The second thing is the

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Speaker 2: trend towards on shoring. So how's that for a full circle?

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Speaker 2: Is the US moves manufacturing back on shore. And the

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Speaker 2: third thing is of course longer term, as we electrify everything.

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Speaker 1: So Sam, what is actually happening with these big deals

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Speaker 1: that are being struck?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I mean, just to give you some context

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Speaker 2: on the US energy mix today and when nuclear fits

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Speaker 2: in US electricity, that flat demand we've talked about, and

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Speaker 2: therefore that there's been no need to develop any more

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Speaker 2: generation plants of any type is about sixty percent fossil fuels,

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Speaker 2: twenty percent renewables, and twenty percent nuclear. And nuclear has

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Speaker 2: been shrinking for thirty to forty years. So you might

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Speaker 2: recall the three Mile Island debarcle in nineteen seventy nine

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Speaker 2: with a small amount of radioactive material release in an

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Speaker 2: accident in Pennsylvania. And because of that, the number of

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Speaker 2: nuclear reactors in the US has been shrinking for decades,

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Speaker 2: from about one hundred and fifteen to ninety four today,

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Speaker 2: and right now there's been some mega deal struck. So

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Speaker 2: on the back of this pick up and demand, we've

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Speaker 2: seen the fact there's been no supply of electricity for

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Speaker 2: decades or no increase in supply, plus government subsidizen tax

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Speaker 2: cuts have seen the constructional the reramping of existing nuclear

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Speaker 2: plants begin in earnest and Microsoft just signed a big

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Speaker 2: deal with Constellation Energy to bring some of the three

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Speaker 2: mile island for some of these back on stream. So

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Speaker 2: another full circle. And soon after that Metas said they

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Speaker 2: are looking at signing super long term power contracts with

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Speaker 2: nuclear plants to power the data centers.

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Speaker 1: So talk to us a little bit about the perceived

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Speaker 1: or actual pros and of using nuclear as an energy source.

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Speaker 2: Definitely stumbling into a lively in the motive debate here

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Speaker 2: lively in the motive for good reason, Jack. But the

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Speaker 2: pros are and there's a fairly well recognized is it's

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Speaker 2: considered a clean energy source, so zero carbon emission during operation.

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Speaker 2: But the second thing is nuclear plants run at about

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Speaker 2: ninety two percent capacity utilization, which is key because we

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Speaker 2: know that wind farms run it more like thirty percent,

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Speaker 2: and solar farms more like twenty to twenty five percent,

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Speaker 2: and even gas is in the middle. And the other

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Speaker 2: thing is these plants last for sixty to eighty years.

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Speaker 2: So that's the pros the cons. While it does generate

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Speaker 2: clean electricity, dealing with spent nuclear fuel as an ongoing

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Speaker 2: problem now about thirty percent of out as a recycle today,

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Speaker 2: but obviously seventy percent it needs to be dealt with.

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Speaker 2: The second thing that the plants are very, very expensive.

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Speaker 2: They take years to build, and because the industry has

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Speaker 2: been shrinking in the US, growing like a weed in China,

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Speaker 2: by the way, but shrinking in the US, the skill

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Speaker 2: sets are just not there to develop these plants.

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Speaker 1: Interesting.

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Speaker 2: And then of course you have the risk, even though

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Speaker 2: it's very rare of a catastrophic spill or accident.

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Speaker 1: Yes, I mean and that is it is a risk,

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Speaker 1: But honestly, you don't need to convince me, especially for

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Speaker 1: the energy transition. I mean, you know, if you think

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Speaker 1: nuclear energy presents a health risk, wait till you hear

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Speaker 1: about coal fired plants. So what does all of this

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Speaker 1: mean for investors then?

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean there's been some pretty interesting moves going on.

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Speaker 2: In the back of it. Some of these energy suppliers

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Speaker 2: like Constellation Energy you have been mopping up some of

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Speaker 2: these nuclear plants have been on fire, and the uranium price,

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Speaker 2: which of course is the fuel source for nuclear reactors,

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Speaker 2: has jumped from a price of around twenty bucks a

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Speaker 2: pound a couple of years ago to a peak of

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Speaker 2: one hundred and ten dollars earlier this year. But I

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Speaker 2: guess more broadly, it's a reminder that we're lucky in

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Speaker 2: New Zealand to have such a bun and clean hydro energy,

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Speaker 2: and not to mention we don't have a such a

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Speaker 2: spike in demand from data centers and resturing and manufacturing

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Speaker 2: interrupts it the a cup. But I think more broadly

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Speaker 2: globally that it's going to these new demand sources are

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Speaker 2: going to drive some really interesting decisions. So it's one

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Speaker 2: to watch. And I'm not saying we should watch what

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Speaker 2: China's doing, but but China is absolutely full steam ahead here.

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Speaker 2: Fifty five reactors today are wamping, twenty three under construction

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Speaker 2: and as well over another one hundred reactors under broad

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Speaker 2: long term consideration.

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Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, that's amazing. Thanks Sam. That's Sam Dickey from

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Speaker 1: Fisher Funds. In a couple of minutes on new stir

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Speaker 1: c'db where will take you to our correspondent from the

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Speaker 1: latest out of UK and Europe. Right now, it's fourteen

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Speaker 1: to seven.

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