Uranium Energy Corp CEO: 'One in every 5 homes in America is powered by nuclear energy'

Uranium Energy Corp Founder and CEO Amir Adnani joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the future of nuclear energy, uranium consumption, and potentially easing energy crises.

Video Transcript

DAVE BRIGGS: We have Vladimir Putin ready to wrap up the war in Ukraine. And having already fully weaponized the country's energy, is now the time to look inward for the future of nuclear energy? Admir Adnani is the founder and CEO of Uranium Energy Corp. He joins us now. Amir, nice to see you. How reliant is the world on Russian uranium? And is there a solution within the United States?

AMIR ADNANI: Way too dependent on Russia, and absolutely there is a solution in the US. First of all, the US today is the largest consumer and importer of uranium in the world. We have the largest nuclear fleet anywhere in the world that's generating emission-free electricity. One in every five home in America is powered by nuclear energy. The biggest source of supply coming into the US is from Russia. And countries that are very much still under the influence of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.

And so we need to be able to get our uranium, just like our pharmaceuticals, just like all supply chain issues that we need to control. We should be able to get it from our own backyard. And absolutely, there is a solution for it in the US. And look, my company, just over the last year, year and a half, we've made almost a half a billion dollar investment in purchasing physical uranium on US soil, acquiring the Uranium One Company that many people might be familiar with from the Russian government before the invasion of Ukraine.

We stepped up, and after a very long process, were able to repatriate those assets and bring them into US ownership, our company, and have even made acquisitions recently into Canada, which we see as being way more politically aligned with the US and having more of the same values as Russia, which you simply cannot rely upon for a source of something as crucial as uranium, which is a very strategic energy commodity.

SEANA SMITH: Well, Admir, when you talk about this transition, the US becoming more independent in this space, I know the Biden administration has been wanting to wean the US off of Russian uranium imports. But I guess, what are the two or three steps that we can do over the coming months here in order to slowly make that transition?

AMIR ADNANI: Maybe it's got to be made faster. I don't know about slow because here, we have on one end, clearly, the White House sees there's an issue, right? They asked just a few weeks ago, they asked Congress for a $1.5 billion emergency funding to give those funds to the Department of Energy to procure nuclear fuel, uranium conversion enrichment. So clearly, they see there's a problem. And that 1.5 is part of a bigger $4 billion discussion around how to create more energy and national security by having our own fuel.

There is a bill-- there's a proposed bill in the US Senate right now with the companion bill in the House that's calling for a ban on Russian uranium imports. We need to make sure US utilities get on board with this. US utilities need to understand that their addiction to cheap Russian uranium is something that can be rectified with domestic supplies that can be here and developed and become a long source of very stable and really creating economic prosperity in our own backyard, while creating a very secure source of supply.

You need to get US utilities on board because if they also support this bill in the US Senate and the House, then say, fine. Rip the Band-Aid off. Why have we banned everything else coming out of Russia, like oil and gas? Why is every major US company pulling out of Russia, but yet, we're still dependent on their nuclear fuel and uranium, and we're still doing business with them on that? Isn't that sending a mixed message?

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, Elon Musk would certainly agree. He said it's actually insane from a national security standpoint and bad for the environment to shut down nuclear energy there. What do you think are going to be the biggest hurdles, then, in really changing the mindset about nuclear energy?

AMIR ADNANI: You touched on so many key points there that you're absolutely right. I mean, look, Musk has came out and talked about the importance of nuclear energy in the mix. We have the highest public opinion polls in favor of nuclear energy, all-time high. We have bipartisan support.

All of this is driven by what happened with COP26 and the United Nations and every other major country's commitment to net zero, and everyone realizing that you can't commit to net zero, reduce carbon emissions, if you don't have nuclear energy in the mix, alongside renewables and all sources of energy we can get our hands on that could be baseload and around the clock, but not pollute and put more greenhouse gases out there.

So, look, bottom line is, I think you have very exciting developments with small modular reactors. Bill Gates' company, TerraPower, is looking to build the first small modular reactor in Wyoming. You have, really, a record number of small modular reactors on the drawing board to be built and developed. You've got over 60 reactors under construction worldwide. China alone is talking about adding 150 new reactors just in the next 15 years. And that will far exceed the size of the nuclear fleet in the US, which is 94 reactors.

So what we need is just sensible and, I think, very sober perspective here, right? Which is, if we're going to, in one end, reduce greenhouse gases, but on the other end, pursue electrification and put more electric vehicles on the road that need to be charged, we need 24/7 electricity. Battery storage and technology is simply not there to rely entirely on intermittent power from renewable. So we need nuclear because there's 24/7 power generation. And it's the backbone of any modern economy that wants to electrify and go through electrification while decarbonizing at the same time.