PLUGGING FUEL SUPPLY GAPS | FUEL & FUEL CYCLE Fuelling the future
A series of Executive Orders has reaffirmed recent US plans to ensure it has domestic control of the full supply chain for nuclear fuel
ON 15 MAY 2024 THEN-PRESIDENT BIDEN signed into law the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act. The Act banned the import of Russian uranium and set out to revive domestic nuclear fuel production in the US, initially by repurposing $2.72bn appropriated by Congress for the Civilian Nuclear Credit Program, instead putting it towards the development of domestic uranium enrichment and conversion capacity. In September the NY Times suggested that uranium mining also needed a boost in the USA, saying it had ‘atrophied’. The need for re-shoring fuel supply was restated in an
analysis published by the US Department of Energy’s (US DOE’s) Energy Information Administration (EIA) in January 2025. The title of the analysis set out a stark warning: ‘US Nuclear Generators Import Nearly All the Uranium Concentrate They Use’ detailed a nearly complete reliance on imported enriched uranium for nuclear fuel for US reactors. In the same month, Foreign Policy magazine pointed out in an article (America’s Awkward Energy Insecurity Problem) that much-hyped plans to use advanced nuclear plants to power data centres and artificial intelligence ultimately also relied on Russia for advanced fuels. The Trump administration has followed up on filling
this gap. On 23 May 2025, Executive Order (EO) 14302, ‘Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base’, said that the USA currently faces “a variety of serious energy-related challenges ultimately affecting national security and preparedness” and in particular that the USA “currently lacks the sufficient domestic nuclear fuel resources to meet projected demand and requires swift and decisive action to secure the nation’s economic and national security interests”. It directs the Secretary of Energy to seek ‘voluntary agreements’ from the industry to work together, under section 708 of the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950. This provides that “upon finding that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs, the President may consult with representatives of industry, business, financing, agriculture, labor, and other interests” to make
voluntary agreements and plans of action to help “provide for the national defense.”
Plugging the fuel supply gap As a consequence, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy is establishing the Defense Production Act Consortium and will seek voluntary agreements with US companies. The voluntary agreements allow the industry to consult and develop plans of action to ensure that domestic capacity for mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, deconversion, fabrication, recycling and reprocessing of uranium is available. EO 14302 said “The seriousness of this situation is both
well-known and well-documented”, citing the EIA analysis, among others, and it noted that since 2017, 87% of all new nuclear reactors that have been installed are based on reactor designs from two foreign countries. It said swift and decisive action was needed to “ensure our national and economic security by increasing fuel availability and production” to help “accelerate our path towards a more secure and independent energy future.” Section 708 of the DPA gives industry participants in any
voluntary agreement or plan of action immunity for any civil or criminal action brought under US or state antitrust laws. DOE is now working on procedures that will allow it to set up a DPA consortium. These will have to detail, among other things, the agreement’s overall scope, the applicability of antitrust protections for entities operating under a voluntary agreement, the procedures for the maintenance and availability of certain materials, meeting attendance provisions and the makeup of voluntary agreement and plan of action participants. DOE recently published an interim rule on the DPA
Consortium, with just 30 days for industry and public comment before it became effective. Its Office of Nuclear Energy is now working with industry participants to identify participants, as well as near and long-term goals, and the Consortium’s first meeting was due to be held on 14 October.
Below: The USA currently lacks sufficient domestic fuel resources to meet projected demand from its nuclear fleet and plants like Vogtle. Source: Georgia Power
www.neimagazine.com | WNE Special Edition | 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108
