Uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) says Japan will re-embrace nuclear power and that China will become increasingly reliant on the same technology.

The comments by ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson come as the miner's year of reckoning approaches with its flagship mine Ranger in the Northern Territory rapidly depleting.

He said since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster the Japanese government had looked at alternative sources of power and examined risks, but it had now restarted two nuclear reactors.

"I would say there will be a slow restart of nuclear reactors in Japan," Mr Atkinson, whose company oversees the world's second biggest uranium mine, told AAP.

"Pragmatically speaking, finding new power sources takes many years, it takes a great deal of cost."

Mr Atkinson said it was difficult to predict whether Japan would get back to the same number of reactors as before, when 54 were fully operating.

"Nuclear will continue to play a part in the Japanese power strategy," he said.

Mr Atkinson said the uranium market remained challenging, but in the longer-term, established producers would have a rosier outlook as China constructed 26 nuclear reactors.

China was expected to be one of the largest uranium consumers within the decade as governments around the world continued to commit to nuclear power.

Mr Atkinson was speaking after ERA said it net losses shrank by more than 50 per cent to $59.86 million in the first half compared to the previous corresponding period.

Revenues fell 37 per cent to $147.999 million.

The company flagged its 2012 production of uranium oxide would be between 3,200 and 3,700 tonnes, in line with its previous announcement.

Cash costs were marginally higher than the corresponding period in 2011.

ERA said it was well positioned for a stronger market in the mid term if the Ranger 3 Deeps mine is developed.

The underground exploration program would begin in the first quarter of 2013 and ERA would decide in 2014 whether it had a viable mine.

"2014 is really going to be the year of reckoning for ERA," Mr Atkinson said.

He said the biggest challenge for the company was its non-cash costs.

Ranger, which is the world's second largest uranium mine, produces about 11 per cent of the global supply and is 68 per cent owned by Rio Tinto.

Fat Prophets analyst David Lennox said ERA had been able to get its Ranger mine in reasonable order following difficult weather issues over the past six months.

"The problem they face is they've come in with good production numbers but they have faced a softer pricing environment and a higher Australian dollar," Mr Lennox said.

Faced with significant power shortages, the Japanese government would need to continue restarting nuclear power stations.

"That will occur as Japan realises it can't really make up for the shortfall from any other source at its disposal," he said.