The US produces enriched uranium for nuclear reactors for the first time

Published:

Apr 20, 2024 09:10 GMT

Washington plans to invest more than $3.4 billion in the nuclear sector.

The United States has produced the first 200 pounds (90 kilograms) of enriched uranium for nuclear reactors, declared this Friday President Joe Biden.

“Today I can announce that the IBEW plant [International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers] of southern Ohio has already produced the first 200 pounds [90 kilogramos] of that powerful enriched uranium, the first in historythe first made in the United States,” Biden said.

The US leader noted that the plant will produce “about a ton of enriched uranium by the end of the year,” which, he said, would be enough to supply energy to 100,000 homes in the country.

According to Biden, the United States has relied for too long on importing uranium for reactors from places like Russia, and his Administration is determined to change that. He announced that $3.4 billion would be invested in uranium production in the US.

Dependence impassable

American uranium production reached a record low of 78 tons in 2019 – a drop from its peak of 19,958 tons in 1980 – as the United States began to depend more and more of imports from countries such as Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan and Russia.

In May 2022, The Wall Street Journal qualified of “impassable” the dependence of the US economy on Russian fuel for nuclear reactors. In 2022, the US paid around 1 billion dollars for these supplies.