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Nuclear power companies are working fast to build facilities and capabilities for the enrichment of uranium as the U.S. nears “a gradually emerging shortage” of the element needed to power nuclear reactors (POLITICO Pro, subscription).

What’s going on: With the help of the Department of Energy, firms “are racing to … stand up an industry that the United States abandoned at the end of the Cold War. If it fails, according to DOE reports and interviews, developers of next-generation reactors that hope to deploy power plants this decade might not have what they need.”

• With just two U.S. facilities producing high-enriched uranium (one is Centrus’ Ohio plant), nuclear power companies have been using Russian imports.
• With the passage of the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, which banned these imports completely starting in 2028, and the Nuclear Fuel Security Act, billions of dollars are now being invested in domestic uranium supply needs.

Heeding the call: “Companies are building infrastructure for a domestic market—fuel enriched to various grades and with different legal restrictions—that experts say advanced reactors will need to power data centers and that will be critical for sustaining America’s nuclear arsenal.”

• Centrus and Virginia-based BWX Technologies are constructing new facilities in Ohio and Tennessee, respectively.
• Last fall, BWXT signed a $1.5 billion agreement with the DOE to produce highly enriched uranium for naval reactors.
• BWXT is aiming to manufacture centrifuges in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and then transfer them to Erwin, Tennessee, where they would enrich uranium to above 90%.
• In January, Centrus—which spun off from a U.S. government enrichment program and was previously known as the U.S. Enrichment Corporation—secured a $900 million government loan to expand its High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium enrichment operations in Ohio and Tennessee. Centrus is the only firm with a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to make HALEU.

What should come next: Manufacturers appreciate the many actions the administration has taken to shore up the domestic nuclear industry, the NAM told Energy Secretary Chris Wright last year. Now, to follow through on the promise to unleash U.S. nuclear power’s potential, the administration must continue to support manufacturers in the United States with resources and collaboration.

• “In recent years, Congress has authorized and appropriated significant funding to support rebuilding the domestic nuclear fuel cycle,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in August.
• “A resurgent U.S.-based nuclear fuel supply chain will benefit manufacturers in the United States and our allies around the world that are looking to meet their energy needs through the adoption of reliable power sources.”