News of the draft policy was welcomed by both uranium companies.

“The announcement from Japan confirming its commitment to nuclear is an entirely sensible move, removing a critical overhang in the uranium outlook as Japan will remain an important future consumer of uranium,” Paladin CEO John Borshoff said.

“This also further demonstrates that the growth in nuclear power will continue and the world will continue to need more uranium.”

Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets 23rd Global Metals & Mining Conference in Florida this week, Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel said the draft policy was a “good piece of news”

He said 17 of the 50 idle reactors in Japan were awaiting safety checks for restart.

“We’re hopeful there will be start-ups in 2014, but, like everyone else, we don’t know when or how many until they happen,” he said.

“I’ve quit predicting restart dates.”

Paladin, which this month mothballed its Kayelekera mine in Malawi, has long tipped an eventual supply gap when the market turns around.

“When seen in the context of recent announcements about uranium mine closures, the deferral of mine expansions and a lack of high quality new projects, a uranium supply crisis with looming shortages will become apparent to all and a significant uranium price increase to accommodate this nuclear growth becomes more and more inevitable,” he said.

The uranium spot price has been hovering around $US35.50 per pound for months, compared to a pre-Fukushima price of $75/lb.

Edison Investment Research predicts the uranium price has bottomed out.

“We note that an important psychological driver behind uranium prices is likely to be the beginning of reactor starts in Japan in 2014,” it said in a report this week.

Paladin shares, which hit a 2014 low of A42 on Friday, jumped about 27% this week to yesterday’s closing price of 54c, while Cameco shares have risen about 13%.

Shares in Paladin held steady this morning, trading only slightly lower at 53.7c.