The 2006-2007 uranium price spike from $30 to $150 was driven by hedge fund front-running of utilities' precautionary buying (utilities feared supply shortages due to long fuel cycle lead times), creating an everincreasing vortex of bidding; the subsequent leverage in the system was liquidated during the 2008 financial crisis, collapsing prices, not Fukushima—Fukushima occurred afterward and further depressed prices.