ANS urges Congress to address availability of HALEU for advanced reactor fuel

September 16, 2021, 9:30AMANS News
Click image to enlarge

Congress needs to take swift action to build a domestic supply of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to fuel advanced reactors, the American Nuclear Society declares in a September 14 letter to Sens. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), the committee’s ranking member.

The letter, signed by ANS President Steven Nesbit and Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy, notes that while many advanced reactor designs—including nine of the 10 designs awarded funding under the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program—require HALEU (uranium enriched to between 5 percent and 20 percent) as reactor fuel, it is currently available only in limited amounts from the DOE via downblending of existing stockpiles of material and from Russian imports.

“Without a substantial domestic HALEU enrichment capability, we risk not having the fuel needed to power advanced nuclear energy as part of our clean energy future,” the letter states. “Long-term reliance on Russian state-owned uranium producers exposes our largest carbon-free energy source to unacceptable business and political risk. The maturation of new nuclear technologies and advanced reactor designs underscores the need for securing our domestic nuclear fuel supply chains.”

ANS calls for an investment of $200 million annually over five years to process DOE material at levels sufficient to supply demonstrations of next-generation reactor designs. “To address enrichment,” the letter adds, “ANS recommends $1.5 billion total over 10 years to produce 20 tons annually, which is what our experts believe will be needed in that time frame.”


Related Articles

“Buy the best and only cry once”

March 14, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

Spoiler alert: America has one more nuclear reactor on line.It’s been a long, hard slog for the Vogtle reactor expansion project, and the news coverage has been tough. I would describe it as...

The arrow is pointing up

March 13, 2024, 7:10AMNuclear News

There have been significant changes in the outlook for the existing U.S. nuclear fleet in the last few years. In 2021, we were looking at the early closure of units and could not even think of...

Reflections from COP28

January 31, 2024, 7:00AMANS News

The American Nuclear Society is hosting "Reflections from COP28," an online panel discussion this Friday, February 2, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. (ET). The talk will look back at the event...

2023 in Review: October–December

January 16, 2024, 3:01PMNuclear News

Another calendar year has passed. Before heading too far into 2024, let’s look back at what happened in 2023 in the nuclear community. In today's post, compiled from Nuclear News and Nuclear...