Months after picking the team that will supply domestically produced high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to the highly anticipated fleet of advanced reactors, the DOE has picked the first recipients of the bounty to come.
HALEU is the fuel of choice for numerous companies developing SMRs and microreactors, but the US is sorely lacking in its ability to make it at home. The DOE’s HALEU Availability Program, established in 2020, is attempting to rectify that. A big step last year was selecting domestic HALEU producers, who are eligible for up to $2.7B in funding.
Now, the first beneficiaries of that program have been named. According to the DOE, the first shipments of HALEU could be this fall.
Drumroll, please: The five companies that have received conditional HALEU allocations from the US government are:
- TRISO-X, the subsidiary of X-energy
- Kairos Power
- Radiant
- Westinghouse
- TerraPower
This party was formed from 15 applicants, the energy agency said. Three of the awardees—though the DOE didn’t say which—need HALEU delivered this year.
Political power: The Trump administration’s position on nuclear energy has been positive so far, despite a lack of support for other “clean” energy sources and an emphasis on increasing oil and gas production and maintaining coal. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, for one, is wholly committed to nuclear.
“The Trump Administration is unleashing all sources of affordable, reliable and secure American energy—and this includes accelerating the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors,” Wright said in a release. “Allocating this HALEU material will help US nuclear developers deploy their advanced reactors with materials sourced from secure supply chains, marking an important step forward in President Trump’s program to revitalize America’s nuclear sector.”
Lead Reporter of Ignition
