Alex Kimani of OilPrice.com writes on the ways that the U.S. is weaning itself off of Russian uranium.
- Russia supplies the U.S. with 14% of its uranium, which is needed to power traditional and advanced nuclear reactors.
- In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, American policymakers and innovators have begun to look for ways to diversify our uranium supply chain to bolster our energy security.
- Centrus Energy has collaborated with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a centrifuge that enriches uranium for next generation reactors.
- Meanwhile, DOE is working with the private sector to advance thorium—a metal that can generate more power and less waste than uranium.
“The United States Department of Energy (DOE), Nuclear Engineering & Science Center at Texas A&M and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have partnered with Chicago-based Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE) to develop a new thorium-based nuclear fuel they have dubbed ANEEL. ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life) is a proprietary combination of thorium and ‘High Assay Low Enriched Uranium’ (HALEU) that intends to address high costs and toxic waste issues (thorium must be paired with at least a small amount of a fissile material due its inability to naturally fissile on its own).”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
