America's Next-Gen Nuclear Ambitions On Hold Due To Russia's Uranium Dominance

An artist’s rendering of NuScale Power’s small modular nuclear reactor plant. Photo courtesy of NuScale.. Image dated August 28, 2020. Credit- Oregon State University, CC SA 2.0.  

OilPrice.com: Russia’s Uranium Dominance Threatens America’s Next-Gen Nuclear Plans 

* The United States has ambitious plans for its nuclear power industry. 

* Russia’s stranglehold on the uranium market threatens to delay progress in nextgen nuclear power projects. 

* U.S. companies are scrambling to develop the domestic uranium supply chain needed to fuel nuclear power ambitions. 

The U.S. is doubling down on nuclear power generation as a means to reduce emissions and is supporting demonstration projects of advanced smaller nuclear reactors that promise to be more efficient and cost less to build than the current nuclear fleet. 

However, there is one major hurdle to the construction of most advanced reactors under development in the United States—the uranium type of fuel on which those reactors are designed to run is currently sold commercially by only one company in the world. And that company is a subsidiary of Russia’s ROSATOM, the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: America's new nuclear power industry has a Russian problem (FOX News/Reuters)  

Update #2: Russian Uranium Dominance Hamstrings US Nuclear Plans (Motley Fool) 

Update #3: America’s new advanced nuclear reactors industry has a huge problem – Russia (Digital Journal)  

WNU Editor: The US nuclear industry is in a Catch-22 situation. To build these new reactors they need a non-Russian source for their Uranium. The problem is that Russia is the only producer of this type of uranium. 

To obtain the financing necessary to start a US company to mine and produce this uranium is, unfortunately,  contingent on reactors being built that will order this uranium. But reactors are not going to be built until there is a US company producing this uranium. 

On a side note. The Europeans are not going to stop buying Russian nuclear fuel .... Europe is still quietly importing Russian nuclear energy (CNBC).