Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average plunged 6.2 percent Monday and
another 13 percent by midday Tuesday, and nuclear industry stocks worldwide
took a big hit following earthquake-triggered emergencies at several reactors
in Japan.
Nuclear services and engineering firm Babcock and Wilcox
lost 9 percent of its value Monday. Curtiss-Wright Corp., which has a division
that produces reactor components, fell 7.3 percent. General Electric, which
more than 40 years ago designed some of the reactors now in trouble, fell just
under 2 percent. Hitachi, GE’s partner in several nuclear ventures since 2007,
dropped more than 15 percent.
While relatively infrequent sales make the price of uranium
tough to gauge in the short term, analysts quoted in the financial media said
prices had dropped “several dollars” from Friday’s $66.50 per pound price
reported by UxC.
Meanwhile, share prices of companies that mine the reactor
fuel were mixed Monday but mostly lower. Industry giant BHP Billiton declined 0.64
percent. Diversified miner Rio Tinto gained 0.9 percent. Cameco Corp. lost
12.73 percent. Usec Inc. lost 11 percent. Several smaller uranium miners clocked
double-digit price declines, as did ETFs tracking uranium producers.
On Tuesday in Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns two power plants facing catastrophic reactor damage, lost nearly a fourth of its by midday.