U.S. Reenters the Nuclear Fuel Game

Centrus Energy delivers first batch of uranium that’s critical for advanced reactors The 93 currently active nuclear-power reactors in the United States burn about 2,000 tonnes of uranium fuel each year. However, the type of uranium fuel those reactors use is not going to cut it for the advanced reactors expected to go on line in the …

Macron Lands in Putin’s Backyard Seeking New Friends and Uranium

Paris eyes deeper cooperation with resource-rich Kazakhstan Macron also wants to tempt Central Asia away from Putin After finding itself suddenly unwelcome in its traditional sphere of influence, France is casting further afield. That’s why president Emmanuel Macron will travel to energy-rich Central Asia this week to visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two suppliers of the uranium that powers the …

White House backs HALEU enrichment with a request for $2.2 billion

Just a few hours after a new Speaker of the House of Representatives was elected on October 25, the White House sent a list of funding priorities for “critical domestic needs” to Congress for consideration as legislators restart the stalled annual appropriations process. Those priorities include $2.2 billion for low-enriched uranium (LEU) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment capabilities. And to ensure that investment in domestic HALEU enrichment pays off, the White House is also calling for a long-term ban on enriched uranium from Russia. If you build it, the money will come? The Department of Energy …

Orano to expand capacity of French enrichment plant

The board of directors of Orano has approved an investment of some EUR1.7 billion (USD1.8 billion) to raise the production capacity of the Georges Besse II (GB-II) uranium enrichment plant at the Tricastin site in southern France by more than 30%. The project consists of building a further four modules identical to the 14 existing …

What Can Investors Learn From the French-Mongolian Uranium Mining Deal

French President Emmanuel Macron and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh in Paris, October 12, 2023. Photo credit: Reuters The ink is barely dry on a landmark French-Mongolian uranium mining deal. After over 20 years of exploratory work in the Gobi desert, France’s state-owned Orano has secured rights to begin commercial production around 2028 at the Zuuvch …

Niger coup designation puts US development bank financing on hold – Global Atomic

he US State Department on Tuesday officially classified the events in Niger at the end of July as a ‘coup d’etat’. This designation has placed a temporary hold on US development bank financing for the Dasa project. In a response, Toronto-listed Global Atomic has acknowledged that, although it has sufficient cash reserves to cover its operations for the …

Rolls-Royce partners for SMR fuel design and analytics

Rolls-Royce SMR has awarded a contract to Westinghouse for the development of a fuel design for its small modular reactor (SMR). Meanwhile, it has partnered with the UK’s National Physical Laboratory to investigate safe automated reactor operation for SMRs. Westinghouse Electric Company UK Ltd is to develop a fuel design for the Rolls-Royce SMR. The …

Westinghouse to Supply the Most Advanced BWR Nuclear Fuel to Large U.S. Utility

The TRITON11® fuel assembly is Westinghouse’s optimized and robust BWR fuel design, offering unmatched fuel cycle economic and performance benefits. Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a contract to deliver advanced fuel to one of the largest Boiling Water Reactor utilities in the U.S. This milestone marks the re-entry of Westinghouse into America’s BWR fuel market …