The U.S. House Committee on Appropriations (HCA) has refused to provide funding for the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to establish a uranium stockpile. The HCA has requested more information about the justification for the proposed uranium reserve before committing any funds. They also requested information about how such a reserve would be implemented.
On February 10th of this year, the U.S. administration released its 2021 budget request. The request included one hundred and fifty million dollars to establish a uranium reserve in order to address some significant challenges to the domestic production of uranium. The proposed reserve would ensure a backup supply of uranium in case there was an event that caused significant global uranium market disruption. The proposed reserve program would include support for the operation of at least two U.S. uranium mines. It would begin with the purchase of uranium produced from U.S. mines and U.S. uranium conversion services.
In a July 13 report from the HAC that was attached to the House energy and water development appropriations bill for fiscal 2021, the HAC said that the DoE “has been unable to provide specific information about how it would implement the program, including in congressional justifications, briefings, and in responses to questions from the committee about how the funds would be spent, including the process for the purchase, conversion, or sale of uranium in a reserve”.
The HAC said that it is concerned “the lack of justification for a reserve and potential market implications of establishing a reserve for commercial purposes". The report also noted that the DoE “will require a domestic source of uranium for defense purposes in the coming decades”.
The HAC has requested that DoE provide a plan for the establishment of the proposed uranium reserve within the next one hundred and eighty days. The HAC said that the requested plan must include a listing of the legal authorities currently in place to establish and operate a uranium reserve. This plan will need to include the purchase, conversion and sale of uranium. The plan should cover a ten-year implementation plan of the activities required for the establishment and operation of the uranium reserve and a ten-year cost estimate.
The report said, “No funds are provided for the establishment of a uranium reserve, and no funds may be spent on activities related to the establishment of a uranium reserve other than the development of the required plan.”
Uranium production in the U.S. has been steadily declining since 1980. U.S. nuclear power plant operators have been turning to cheaper imported uranium instead of purchasing U.S. uranium. About ninety percent of the uranium currently fueling U.S. reactors comes from foreign sources. The total production of uranium in the U.S. last year was about one hundred seventy-four thousand pounds of uranium. This is the lowest domestic uranium production in seventy years.
The U.S. Nuclear Fuel Working Group (NFWG) published recommendations to the U.S. administration on April 23rd on reviving the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. The NFWG strategy includes directly purchasing uranium to create the uranium reserve, dropping the DoE’s practice of bartering uranium and re-evaluating the DoE’s excess uranium management policy. President Trump established the NFWG in July of last year to carry out a fuller analysis of national security considerations with respect to the entire U.S. nuclear fuel cycle.