China stockpiling uranium for new reactors, supplier says

Cameco Corp, the world's second-largest uranium producer, said power utilities in China are continuing to stockpile uranium, making them the market's single-largest group of buyers.

Utilities in China have bought an estimated 8 million pounds of uranium, the raw material in nuclear-reactor fuel, on the spot market this year, said George Assie, Cameco's senior vice-president of marketing.

"Keep in mind they have 13 reactors under construction," Assie said yesterday on a conference call with investors and analysts. "The stockpile there is for a very specific reason and that is to feed those reactors under construction."