US government offers contracts to produce enriched uranium fuel

The US Energy Department is trying to jumpstart a domestic uranium fuel supply chain to reduce dependence on Russia, from which US reactors get about 25% of their enriched uranium in recent years. The United States put a ban on the imports from Russia as part of a package of sanctions on Moscow over its full scale invasion of Ukraine. The ban allows waivers until 2028.

The department said it is offering initial contracts to six companies to produce domestic uranium fuel for conventional nuclear plants to generate electricity. The US is investigating uranium imports to see if China is helping Russia circumvent the ban.

These companies won contracts: Centrus’s American Centrifuge Operating; General Matter; Global Laser Enrichment; Urenco’s Louisiana Energy Services; Laser Isotope Separation Technologies and Orano Federal Services.

Four of those companies got initial US contracts in October to produce a more enriched fuel called high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, to be used in smaller reactors that are not yet commercial.

Conventional uranium fuel is up to 5% enriched while HALEU is up to 20% enriched.

The contracts at the start are for a minimum of $2 million. They will last for up to 10 years with $2.7 billion available for the program.