According to a government notification, the US will invite suppliers to submit bids for contracts worth up to $3.4 billion of nuclear reactor fuel made in the country next month.
The money, which totals around $2.7 billion, is part of a larger effort to wean the country off of nuclear fuel imports from Russia and is intended to support the restart of local nuclear fuel manufacturing by directly purchasing the low-enriched uranium needed for reactors. President Joe Biden’s executive order prohibiting the import of enriched uranium from Russia—the US’s biggest supplier, accounting for about 25% of all reactor fuel—opened the door to the release of that money.
Although it lost its competitive advantage in the enriched uranium market decades ago, the US used to be a major provider. Currently, the nation only has one commercial enrichment facility, which is controlled by a collaboration of British, Dutch, and Germans called Urenco Ltd., in New Mexico.
Centrus Energy Corp., situated in Bethesda, Maryland, has declared that it will bid for the money. The fuel supplier, which presently imports most of its uranium from Russia, intends to produce low-enriched uranium domestically and has disclosed that it has secured conditional sales contracts worth approximately $900 million. Additionally, Centrus started producing in October at a pilot facility that produces highly enriched uranium specifically for use in a new generation of advanced reactors.
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Apart from Centrus, other firms that might profit from the investment are Global Laser Enrichment, which is controlled by Silex Systems LTD and Cameco Corp., and ConverDyn, a joint venture that offers uranium conversion services and is owned by Honeywell International Inc. and General Atomics.
According to Scott Melbye, president of the Uranium Producers of America, which is a group that includes businesses like Cameco Corp., Energy Fuels, Inc., Ur-Energy, Inc., and Uranium Energy Corp., domestic uranium mining firms may also profit from the funding.
“Any expansion of western enrichment over Russian enrichment is good for our business,” Melbye stated in an interview. “US enrichment will favor and support western sources of uranium.”