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https://www.utilitydive.com/news/se...nt-nuclear-haleu-advance-reactors-smr/707794/

Dive Brief
Domestic uranium enrichment gets $2.7B boost from US Senate

The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 funds conventional and advanced U.S. uranium enrichment capabilities, but the bill faces an uncertain future in the U.S. House.
Published Feb. 16, 2024
By Brian Martucci



Advanced centrifuge cascade in Piketon, Ohio.  Retrieved from Centrus Energy Corp..


Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Senate approved $2.7 billion in funding for domestic uranium enrichment on Feb. 13 as part of a $95.3 billion national security supplemental appropriations bill that also includes funding for military assistance to Ukraine and Israel.
• The measure repurposes unspent federal infrastructure funds to expand production of conventional low-enriched uranium, or LEU, and high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, at facilities in the United States, Nuclear Innovation Alliance Research Director Patrick White told Utility Dive in an interview.
• The bill faces Republican opposition in the U.S. House of Representatives over what they view as insufficient U.S. border security funding, but Democrats and some Republicans may use a rare procedural maneuver to force passage anyway, according to Roll Call.

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Dive Insight:

If passed by the House and signed into law by President Biden, the bipartisan national security supplemental bill could fill a “significant” funding gap that threatens U.S. energy security in a decarbonized future, White said.
A 2023 Nuclear Innovation Alliance report called for a “one-time appropriation of $2.1 to $3.5 billion” that authorizes LEU and HALEU procurement through a revolving fund administered by the U.S. Department of Energy. Up to $1.4 billion of that is needed to support HALEU procurement, the report said. The Department of Energy will dole out $500 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding to domestic HALEU producers beginning this year, leaving an up to $900 million shortfall, which would be filled by the supplemental appropriations funding.
LEU, which contains 3% to 5% of the fissile uranium-235 isotope, is the dominant fuel type in civilian nuclear power generators, according to the World Nuclear Association. HALEU, which contains 5% to 20% uranium-235, features in several advanced nuclear reactor designs that could see commercial deployments over the next several years.