Helping Fuel the Next Generation of American Nuclear Power

The next generation of US nuclear reactors are swiftly approaching demonstration and deployment, with multiple set to come online by the end of the decade. Advanced reactors are a vital new clean energy tool in the fight against climate change and offer opportunities to bolster American global leadership in nuclear energy, our competitiveness in the global market, and create jobs at home. But a major challenge to broadly deploying these clean energy assets remains—securing a reliable supply of the specialized fuel that many of these reactor technologies will require, known as high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU). As it stands, Putin’s oligarchical regime is the world’s sole commercial supplier of HALEU fuel, and the US does not currently have the uranium enrichment capability to produce it. To deploy our advanced reactors, it’s critical that we rapidly develop domestic uranium enrichment capabilities for HALEU fuel and use any existing uranium resources available to produce HALEU for the first advanced reactor projects.