French nuclear giant Areva says it is suspending a mining project in the Central African Republic for "a year or two" because of a drop in uranium prices since the Fukushima disaster.

Work on developing the Bakouma mine, which is estimated to hold about 32,000 tonnes of uranium, has been suspended until the market value of the commodity rises again, an Areva spokesman said on Wednesday.

"But this does not consist of abandoning the project," the spokesman said.

A massiveearthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11 sparked an atomic emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading some countries to cancel or put on hold their nuclear power programs.

The price of uranium subsequently dropped by about 30 per cent, at a time when Areva was hoping for a global nuclear power renaissance.