In an interview with commodities media personality and YouTuber Jesse Day, legendary investor and CEO of Sprott Rick Rule said 2023 will be the year that uranium turns a corner – with Japan’s nuclear power restarts, extensions and new builds signalling the upward swing.

In the interview, set to be published imminently, Rule says he believes 2023 is going to be a huge year for uranium, mostly due to the timing of Japan’s nuclear restart.

The Japanese national cabinet this month announced a new policy for the nuclear energy industry. The policy will see reactors restarting, new builds and extensions for existing reactors.

This will lead to a rebalancing in the demand and supply dynamics of uranium around the world, Rule says.

“For years I was saying to people the turn in uranium will come with the pace of Japanese restarts… I don’t know when that going to happen… Well now I know, 2023”.

Another analyst was also extremely bullish on Japan’s new approach to nuclear energy, similar to Mr Rule’s sentiment.

Public opinion in Japan about nuclear energy has completely flipped in recent times, as the country is hit by high energy costs in the last year.

Japan’s government said nuclear was essential for it’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Before the 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushimi, Japan generated about 30% of its energy from nuclear power.