The Washington-based industry group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the group’s report, released on 23 April, shows strong support for maintaining domestic fuel cycle capabilities. The NEI said it encourages congressional action to create a uranium reserve as outlined in the report and president Donald Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget request.
NEI president and chief executive officer Maria Korsnick said support for the development of next-generation technologies and advanced fuels, which is emphasised in the report, will drive innovation across the industry and keep America competitive in this strategic sector. “And the administration plans bold steps to address challenges faced by US nuclear companies as they compete against state-owned enterprises in Russia and China.
“Actions to bolster export financing, strengthen export coordination and open new markets to US firms will enable the US to foster 100-year relationships through nuclear energy exports and technology cooperation,” she said.
Ur-Energy and Energy Fuels also welcomed the report, saying it lays out a comprehensive strategy to revive and strengthen US nuclear fuel capabilities, starting with uranium mining and preventing geopolitical adversaries, particularly those in Russia, from using their nuclear capabilities to influence the US.
The two US uranium mining companies asked in 2018 for an inquiry into uranium under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. Both claimed that subsidised foreign products had flooded the US market, putting them at a competitive disadvantage, forcing them to cut jobs and putting the domestic supply of uranium at risk.
Uranium Energy Corp, which has uranium projects in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Paraguay, said the report represents “a clear and unambiguous commitment by the US government to establish the development of domestic uranium mining capabilities at the forefront of America’s national security”. The company said the US power sector will not be secure “until we shed our total dependence on imported uranium”.
Maryland-based nuclear fuel and services supplier Centrus Energy said the US had dominated the global nuclear fuel market, which provided it with leverage to insist upon the highest standards of safety and nonproliferation in exchange for US exports of nuclear fuel.
“The collapse of US uranium mining, conversion, and enrichment capabilities has greatly reduced this influence and the US has gone from the world’s largest exporter of nuclear fuel to the world’s largest importer,” the company said.
