The US Government Accounting Office (GAO) has produced a 83-page report criticising the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Department of Energy (DOE) for failing to report the costs of planned uranium enrichment projects.
The report, titled Nuclear Fuel: Actions Needed to Enhance Cost Reporting and Economic Analysis for Federal Uranium Supply Efforts, outlines critical gaps in oversight for both national security and civilian uranium initiatives through the year 2105.
GAO says the US needs enriched uranium for national security and civilian purposes. NNSA provides enriched uranium to support missions such as tritium production for nuclear weapons and fuel for naval reactors. Civilian needs include fuel for commercial nuclear power, medical isotope production, and research reactors.
Current law and policy restrict the US from using imported uranium or uranium enriched through foreign technology to meet national security needs and the US does not have a fully domestic enrichment capability. Civilian nuclear fuel can be sourced domestically or internationally. Federal laws direct DOE to support domestic development of advanced nuclear reactors and LEU and HALEU fuels.
The NNSA is pursuing three long-term uranium enrichment efforts estimated to cost $140bn by 2105, but it has failed to submit required cost reports to Congress. However, GAO says NNSA currently maintains enough low-enriched uranium (LEU) and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to meet national security needs until the early 2040s. GAO also notes that the NNSA’s internal programme plans do not align with federal management best practices.
DOE is expanding civilian uranium enrichment primarily for nuclear reactor fuel but lacks a complete economic analysis of costs and benefits to ensure success. Moreover, global supply chain shifts, including the US ban on Russian LEU imports, have severely complicated near-term civilian supply and demand estimates. . Demand estimates for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) vary, and estimated supply may not meet near term demands.
DOE awarded $900m to one company to expand LEU enrichment in to support the existing commercial reactor fleet and also issued $1.8bn in awards to two companies to build HALEU capacity to support development of advanced reactors. However, DOE did not document an analysis to determine whether its actions are sufficient to induce expansion of commercial LEU and HALEU production in the US.
GAO is making five recommendations, including that NNSA report the long-term costs for national security enrichment efforts in a biennial report required by Congress, and that DOE document an analysis aligned with best practices to determine if its actions to support domestic enrichment are sufficient. NNSA and DOE outlined actions they plan to take in response to the recommendations.
NNSA must immediately provide Congress with the mandated financial information regarding its $140bn enrichment roadmap. DOE must document a rigorous cost-benefit analysis for commercial nuclear fuel efforts to stabilise domestic market supplies.
