TER: Two years ago there was a rapid increase in uranium fueled by the projected number of nuclear facilities being built around the world and speculation of a shortage of uranium supplies. Subsequently, uranium prices have fallen and many nuclear facilities have been stalled due to the economic recession. Given this, in what timeframe do you see nuclear beginning to increase as a percentage of energy output? What is the investment strategy for this sector?

LR: There is still a looming shortage of uranium. The 400 or so reactors in the world now in operation get about 40% of their fuel from Soviet-era nuclear warheads being converted to fuel grade. The agreement under which Russia is converting uranium and supplying material to the West runs out in 2013. Russia does not intend to extend that agreement, as they will need more material internally. Another hundred reactors are planned over the next decade or so. Uranium mines can’t be developed fast enough to bridge that gap. Nuclear energy will continue to increase, but it is unlikely to increase as a percentage of energy output. It will do little more than keep pace with the overall increase in energy output.

TER: Since Coal is in abundance in the U.S. it seems natural that there would be some technological advances in this area. Have you heard of any?

LR: Coal is abundant all over the world. Unfortunately, it is the dirtiest of the carbon fuels. In addition to carbon dioxide, coal-fired power plants also emit sulphur dioxide and ash. That ash contains all sorts of nasty ingredients. The research is aimed at cleaning up the emissions. There are scrubbers that remove a portion of the emissions and work is ongoing to further improve efficiencies. There is also work underway to capture the carbon dioxide. Most of the work is aimed at simply stuffing the CO2 back into the ground. That may work in some areas, but is far from a universal solution.

TER: Can you give us some specifics?

LR: In the last issue of GreenTech we introduced a company called Natcore Technology (TSX.V:NXT) that is working toward a very significant development in solar technology. Two very accomplished scientists with different approaches realized that there was huge synergy in combining their technologies. They set up a company and just took it public to finance their development work. The value of the company is now almost nothing. If successful, the new technology would have a huge impact on the solar industry, and of course on the value of the company.

We are looking now at some emerging geothermal companies that we will introduce in the next issue. There have been some big advances in technology in this area that make it far more broadly applicable than it was even a short time ago.

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