WASHINGTON: US firms developing a new generation of small nuclear power plants to help cut carbon emissions are in crisis: Only one company is selling the fuel they need, and that's Russian.

That's why the U.S. The government is urgently looking to use some of its stockpile of weapons-grade uranium to help fuel the new advanced reactors and kick-start an industry it sees as crucial for countries to meet global net-zero emissions goals.

"Production of HALEU is a critical mission and all efforts to increase its production are being evaluated," a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Energy said.

The energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine has renewed interest in nuclear power. Backers of smaller, next-generation reactors say they are more efficient, quicker to build, and could turbocharge the shift away from fossil fuels.

But without a reliable source of the high assay low enriched uranium the reactors need, developers worry they won't receive orders for their plants. And without orders, potential producers of the fuel are unlikely to get commercial supply chains up and running to replace the Russian uranium.

"We understand the need for urgent action to incentivize the establishment of a sustainable, market-driven supply of HALEU," the DOE spokesperson said.

The U.S. The government is in the final stages of evaluating how much of its inventory of 585.6 tonnes of highly enriched uranium to allocate to reactors, the spokesperson said.

The fact that Russia has a monopoly on HALEU has long been a concern for Washington but the war in Ukraine has changed the game, as neither the government nor the companies developing the new advanced reactors want to rely on Moscow.

HALEU is enriched to levels of up to 20%, rather than around 5% for the uranium that powers most nuclear plants. But only TENEX, which is part of Russian state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, sells HALEU commercially at the moment.

While no Western countries have sanctioned Rosatom over Ukraine, mainly because of its importance to the global nuclear industry, the U.S. Power plant developers such as X-energy and TerraPower don't want to be dependent on a Russian supply chain.

"We didn't have a fuel problem until a few months ago," said Jeff Navin, director of external affairs at TerraPower, whose chairman is billionaire Bill Gates. "After the invasion of Ukraine, we were not comfortable doing business with Russia."

Nuclear power currently generates about 10% of the world's electricity and many countries are now exploring new nuclear projects to improve their energy supply and energy security, as well as to help meet goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Nuclear power currently generates about 10% of the world's electricity and many countries are now exploring new nuclear projects to improve their energy supply and energy security, as well as to help meet goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

But with large-scale projects still challenging for reasons including huge up-front costs, project delays, cost overruns and competition from cheaper energy sources such as wind, several developers have proposed so-called small modular reactors (SMR).

While the SMRs on offer from companies such as EDF and Rolls-Royce use existing technology and the same fuel as traditional reactors, nine out of 10 of the advanced reactors funded by Washington are designed to use HALEU.

Proponents say these advanced plants require less frequent refueling and are three times more efficient than conventional models.

Some analysts say the price gap may narrow now because the small advanced reactors used by HALEU do not yet have the economies of scale from mass production.

Companies in the United States and Europe have plans to produce HALEU on a commercial scale but even in the most optimistic scenarios, they say it would take at least five years from the point they decide to proceed.

The U.S. The government recognized years ago that Russia's monopoly on HALEU could hamper the development of the advanced reactors it hopes will provide low-carbon energy at home and also be exported to markets in Europe and Asia.

The government awarded a shared-cost contract in 2019 to Centrus, the only company outside Russia that currently has a license to make HALEU, to build a demonstration facility.

While the facility was due to start making HALEU this year, production has been put back to 2023, partly because of delays in getting hold of storage containers due to supply chain issues during the global pandemic, Centrus said.

Once the facility is operational, it will take five years for Centrus to start producing 13 tonnes of HALEU a year. But that's only about a third of what the DOE projects US reactors will need by 2030.

French state-owned uranium mining and enrichment company Orano says it could start producing HALEU in five to eight years, but will only apply for a production licence once it has customers with long-term contracts.

For TerraPower and X-energy, which have projects planned in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Washington respectively, the clock is ticking.

Washington awarded them contracts to build two demonstration rectors by 2028 and shared the costs. But without Russian fuel, that deadline will fall well before any alternative commercial suppliers would be up and running.

While the 20% enrichment levels for HALEU are well below the roughly 90% level needed for weapons, companies need special licences to produce them. Additional security and certification requirements are also required for production sites, packaging and transportation of the fuel.

-Reuters/Ap