The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy is establishing the Defense Production Act (DPA) Consortium, and will seek voluntary agreements with US to strengthen domestic nuclear fuel cycle supply chains. This is in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order, Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base. This is intended to increase fuel availability, provide more access to reliable power, and end US reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials.
“There are major gaps in our nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure that leave the United States heavily dependent on foreign sources of enriched uranium,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Mike Goff. “By leveraging authorities in the Defense Production Act, DOE is able to take swift action to bring all parties to the table to accelerate our path toward a more secure and independent energy future.”
Under the DPA Consortium, voluntary agreements will allow industry consultation to develop plans of action to ensure that the nuclear fuel supply chain capacity is available to enable the continued reliable operation of US reactors. This includes mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, deconversion, fabrication, recycling and reprocessing.
DOE issued an interim final rule that will be published in the Federal Register and is seeking public comment on the standards and procedures that DOE will use to execute voluntary agreements under DPA section 708, which provides a defence against antitrust laws when certain criteria are met. The interim rule will be effective 30 days after the date of publication. Public comments must also be submitted within the 30-day timeframe.
DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy will be working with industry participants in the coming weeks to identify participants as well as near and long-term goals. The first meeting of the DPA Consortium is scheduled for 14 October.
DOE said the DPA Consortium will operate separately from currently appropriated low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium procurement and allocation programmes but may inform future programmatic efforts.
