nuclear-news

DoE awards next-gen nuclear fuel contracts backwards

‘Deconversion’ can begin now, but initial enrichment, transportation and storage to processors is still TBD

Brandon Vigliarolo, Tue 8 Oct 2024 /

The US Department of Energy has awarded shares of an $800 million contract for advanced nuclear fuel deconversion to four companies, but it’s unclear who will be in charge of getting refined fuel to those deconversion sites.

High-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, is needed for nuclear reactor designs like small modular reactors (SMRs), molten salt reactors and other new variations that are supposed to be safer and more efficient. Unlike traditional nuclear fuel, which contains up to 5 percent uranium-235 (the isotope that’s used to power nuclear power plants), HALEU includes a large proportion of the fissile isotope (as much as 20 percent). 

Unfortunately for American nuclear interests, HALEU production at scale is only really happening in two unfriendly countries: Russia and China. That situation has already caused delays for nuclear power projects like the Bill Gates-backed TerraPower plant in Wyoming. 

With the DoE forecasting an annual need for 40 metric tons of the stuff per year by the end of the decade, the US has a serious need for US-made HALEU. The four deals announced Friday between the DoE and Global Nuclear Fuel – Americas, Nuclear Fuel Services, American Centrifuge Operating and Framatome for HALEU deconversion services will hopefully help do just that. 

HALEU deconversion, which is conducted after the initial enrichment stage to ensure fuel has reached appropriate levels of U-235, turns enriched uranium hexafluoride gas into oxide, metal and other mineral forms usable as fuel. The DoE initially proposed the deconversion funding in October of last year. 

Step 1: ???

Each company is guaranteed $2 million in funding at a minimum to deconvert and store HALEU fuel within the US, but whether they’ll be able to reach scale is another thing altogether.

As we’ve noted previously, American Centrifuge Operating was the only company in the United States creating HALEU fuel, which it only began doing late last year, producing the US’s first HALEU, but only 20 kilograms of it. 

October 10, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA