Fuel could slow the nuclear renaissance. The West is racing to break Russia’s uranium enrichment monopoly

The world is planning a return to nuclear power, including a wave of small modular reactors. But only Russia currently supplies the fuel required by many of them, known as HALEU, on a commercial scale. A group of Western companies is therefore seeking to build its own production capacity before a full US ban on imports of Russian enriched uranium takes effect in 2028. New facilities will not reach full production until around 2029 to 2031, raising the risk of shortages between 2026 and 2028. Experts say the future of small reactors may depend to a large extent on how quickly the West can break the monopoly.

HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium) is uranium enriched to 5 to 20 percent uranium-235. Conventional nuclear reactors today use fuel enriched to around 5 percent. However, many new and small modular reactors require higher enrichment to be more compact and powerful, and to run longer on a single fuel load.