Via Steve Roman’s professional blog:

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Areva’s CEO interviewed by Fortune (not online):

QUESTION: Are you concerned that the price of uranium, which has been going up dramaticlly, will make nuclear power too expensive? Or that shortages will make it difficult to operate reactors?

ANNE LAUVERGEON: The price of uranium is only 5% of the kilowatt-hour price, so the impact is negligible. The current situation won’t last. The Soviet Union had a huge amount of uranium in its military stockpile and started to sell on the international market in 1991. To develop fresh mines in those conditions was uneconomical. After 15 years of very low prices, the prices have gone up. But we were one of the only companies that continued to develop mines. We also recycle 95% of the spent fuel.