2024-01-09 21:00:50
The United States has issued a request for proposals from contractors to help establish a domestic supply of uranium fuel enriched to higher levels for use in a next generation of reactors, a fuel that is currently only available in commercial quantities in Russia, the energy ministry said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Energy is seeking contracts of up to 10 years from enrichment service companies to produce so-called “high assay low enriched” (HALEU) uranium fuel, enriched up to 20%. , while the traditional uranium fuel used in current reactors is around 5%.
The ministry has approximately $500 million in funding for HALEU production under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and issued a tender late last year for additional HALEU production services. The program might be expanded in future years, depending on appropriations allocated by Congress.
HALEU is expected to be needed for a generation of reactors planned by companies such as X-energy and TerraPower, but production has been delayed because the reactors have not yet been built.
“It’s kind of a chicken or egg situation,” Jon Carmack, the department’s assistant secretary for the nuclear fuel cycle, said in an interview. Mr Carmack said the Government needed to invest enough money to show initial demand from producers, so they would build capacity, apply for licenses and begin plans to design and build the HALEU plant.
President Joe Biden’s administration views new reactors and maintaining the current fleet of nuclear power plants as essential to its agenda to combat climate change. Ali Zaidi, Mr. Biden’s national climate adviser, said increasing the domestic supply of uranium would strengthen energy security, create good-paying union jobs and boost economic competitiveness.
Nuclear proliferation experts warn that increased reliance on HALEU around the world might increase proliferation risks because the fuel is closer to fissile material for nuclear weapons than traditional fuels.
The only company currently selling commercial HALEU cargoes is TENEX, part of Russia’s state-owned Rosatom.
Centrus Energy, the only U.S. company licensed to produce HALEU and providing the Department of Energy with a small quantity of the fuel for demonstration purposes, was encouraged that the tender might lead to an increase in production at its Ohio factory. Centrus “looks forward to competing for the financing needed to expand production,” said Lindsey Geisler, a company spokeswoman.
European uranium enrichment company Urenco might also produce American HALEU, but it does not yet have a license to do so. Urenco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Writing by Jonathan Oatis and Andrea Ricci)
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