US-based uranium mining company Energy Fuels CEO Mark Chalmers has hailed President Donald Trump’s commitment to establish a strategic uranium reserve as an “important step” towards addressing the country’s overdependence on uranium imports from Russia and its allies.
To set up the reserve, $150-million a year would be needed over ten years. The reserve is intended to “provide additional assurances of availability of uranium in the event of a market disruption”.
According to a US Department of Energy press release, the new programme will help to re-establish the nation's nuclear fuel supply chain through the domestic production and conversion of uranium.
"President Trump took action to support domestic uranium miners and promote US national and energy security. This is an important step toward addressing the devastating impact of our nation's overdependence on uranium imports from Russia and its allies, which is displacing free market uranium and forcing US mines out of business,” said Chalmers.
In July last year, Trump established the US Nuclear Fuel Working Group to investigate all aspects of nuclear fuel production and "to develop recommendations for reviving and expanding domestic nuclear fuel production”.
“As the owner of the only operating uranium mill in the United States, together with our extensive US uranium production portfolio and existing inventories, at Energy Fuels, we believe we are well-positioned to provide a significant portion of the uranium needed for the reserve.
Energy Fuels has been the largest uranium producer in the US over the past several years. The company owns processing facilities in Wyoming, Utah and Texas has more than 11.5-million pounds of a year licensed uranium production capacity.