The United States is looking for alternatives to high-grade low-enriched uranium from Russia – Kommersant

US officials are seeking to begin producing high-energy uranium enriched to higher levels for use in a new generation of reactors. This is reported by Reuters with reference to the US Department of Energy. Highly enriched uranium fuel in commercial quantities is currently purchased only from a Russian company.

We are talking about high-grade low-enriched uranium fuel (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium, or HALEU), enriched from 5% to 20%. Traditional uranium fuel currently used in reactors is enriched by less than 5% with uranium-235. As Reuters notes, HALEU is closer to fissile material for nuclear weapons than to traditional fuel.

The only company currently engaged in commercial supplies of HALEU is Techsnabexport, a subsidiary of Rosatom. December Bloomberg Citing sources, it reported that Techsnabexport notified US clients of Russia’s likely ban on nuclear fuel exports in response to a similar law passed in the US on December 11.

The US Department of Energy is seeking HALEU suppliers for contracts for a maximum period of ten years. The US agency has allocated about $500 million to finance the production of HALEU in accordance with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The program to produce such fuel could be expanded in the coming years, depending on what Congress decides.

Highly enriched uranium will be needed to launch new reactors that X-energy and TerraPower are working on. Their production was delayed. John Carmack, deputy assistant secretary for the nuclear fuel cycle, said the government needs to invest enough money to meet initial demand for producers of such fuel.

President Joe Biden’s administration views new reactors, as well as maintaining the existing fleet of nuclear power plants, as critical to the climate change agenda. Ali Zaidi, Joe Biden’s climate adviser, said increasing domestic uranium supplies would improve energy security while also creating new union jobs and boosting economic competitiveness.

According to forecast The US Department of Energy estimates that the country will need more than 40 metric tons of HALEU, as well as additional fuel annually, to deploy a new fleet of advanced reactors by the end of the decade.

Centrus Energy (LEU.A) is the only US company licensed to produce HALEU and is supplying the US Department of Energy with small quantities of fuel for demonstration purposes. European uranium enrichment company Urenco could also produce HALEU, but it does not yet have a license.

8 January UK government announced, which will invest £300 million ($381 million) to launch a high-grade, low-enriched uranium program. This will make the UK the first country in Europe to launch such a nuclear fuel programme.

Read more about uranium supplies in the Kommersant article. “Serious Uranium”.

Anastasia Larina