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Eunice, New Mexico – Paul Lorskulsulsint was a shift manager at a brand new uranium enrichment facility deep in the US Southwest when a crash struck Japan in 2011.
A massive tsunami and an earthquake caused a severe crash in the Fukushima Daicic nuclear power plant. Thousands of kilometers in Eunice, New Mexico, Lorskulsulsint turned on television to make sure that his team could witness what was happening across the Pacific.
Lorskulsint knew that the disaster in Japan was a leading moment for the nuclear industry. The plant, in which he manages the change of operations, has just opened in 2010 after the European enriching Uranus Urenko spent years in the construction of the facility in anticipation of increasing demand.
Over the decade, public support for nuclear energy has decreased and a dozen reactors have closed in the United States as the industry is struggling to compete against a flood of cheap natural gas and renewable energy. The demand for a low -enriched uranium that nourishes nuclear power plants have decreased.
“The price of what we sold mainly, went through the floor,” said Lorskskulcil, who is now a chief nuclear officer at Urenco USA, in front of CNBC. Urenc’s long -term utilities with utility services isolate the facility during the decline, he said, but the decline in prices has set additional plans to expand.
Paul Lorskilcul, Chief Nuclear Officer, Urenco USA talks about the process of enriching uranium.
Adam Jeffrey | CNBC
With headquarters outside London, Urenko joins the British and Dutch rules and two German utilities. Its New Mexico facility is the only commercial enrichment facility left in the United States the last commercial facility owned by the United States in Paduka, Kentucky, closed in 2013, and its owner of the United States Corporation for enrichment went bankrupt during Fukushima.
Fourteen years later, the situation turned again. Urenco USA competes to expand its enrichment capacity. The nuclear industry is gaining momentum as the demand for electricity in the United States is expected to pop out of artificial intelligence and impetus to expand domestic production. Doubts continue to exist whether US power supplies will increase quickly enough to meet the needs. Increasing uranium enrichment will be a key part of the process, despite the history of past disappointments.
Also, Uranus -enriched supplies are at risk. US still imported 20% of its enriched uranium from Russia In 2024, a heritage of now the broken hope of friendship between the two countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
The United States will completely ban the import of Russian Uranus until 2028 in the Repsced in the full-scale invasion of Moscow in Ukraine, leaving a supply deficit just when Washington, utilities and the technology sector, develop the most ambitious plans of decades to build new reactors.
Nuclear power plants as Palisades In Michigan, Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania and Dwayne Arnold Iowa plan to restart operations this decade after closing years ago. The technical sector invests hundreds of millions of dollars to bring modern reactors online in 2030 to help power their computer warehouses that train and manage AI applications.
“This is a major moment, the next five to 10 years for the nuclear industry,” Lorskulsins said. “We will have to deliver on time, on schedule and continue to maintain this inertia, which is a significant challenge.”
Urenco US employees receive a cylinder of power supply materials for the enrichment process.
Adam Jeffrey | CNBC
Plans to expand
In a deeply divided Washington, support for nuclear energy is one of the few problems that can still gather some bilateral support. President Donald Trump wants Four nuclear energy by 2050A significant increase in President Joe Biden’s previous goal to triple him to that date.
The United States has built only one new nuclear power plant over the last 30 years, raising doubts as to whether such ambitious plans can be realized. But any effort large or small to expand nuclear energy in the United States will move through Ureno’s facility in New Mexico.
Currently, the plant has the capacity to deliver about one -third of the US demand with investments in $ 5 billion to the facility so far. Urenco expands its capacity in New Mexico by 15% to 2027 as Utilties replaced Russian fuel. It has installed two new Centrifuge enrichment cascades for enrichment. But the very expansion of Urenco will not fill the Russian supply difference, Lorskulsulsint said.
“Our competitors will have to expand to make sure that the industry is still shipping in general,” he said. “We build quickly to make sure the industry is not short.”
As Russian fuel is prohibited by the United States, the Trump administration has demanded that 10 new major reactors start construction during this decade. Alphabet Invest in about 2 gigawatts of new nuclear, Amazon has committed to more than 5 gigas and Meta He wants to bring up to 4 gigs online.
Urenco USA facilities in Eurois, New Mexico.
Adam Jeffrey | CNBC
The industry is worried about the difference in supply, Lorskulsulsint said, but filling it “is not an insurmountable task”.
Urenco USA is a candidate to receive a contract from the Ministry of Energy for the production of a lower enriched uranium, part of US efforts to straighten an internal nuclear supply chainS The contract will allow the facility in New Mexico to further expand with the construction of a fourth production building.
Urenco competitors are also looking for support from the energy department to build a US enrichment capacity. France Orano plans to build a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennesse, with operations potentially starting in the 2030s.
Publicly traded Centers There is a facility in Piqueton, Ohio, where he plans to produce a low enriched uranium, but has not yet started commercial operations. Centrus is the heir to the United States enrichment corporation, which went bankrupt in 2013.
Centrus’ shares have won over 400% this year as investors are relying on increasing demand for enriched uranium due to US plans to expand nuclear energy.
Paul Lorskilcul, Chief Nuclear Officer, Urenco USA talks about the process of enriching Uranus to Centrifuge Cascade.
Adam Jeffrey | CNBC
Butterlenecks on the supply chain
But the enrichment is only at one stage in the long supply chain, which will be stretched from increasing demand. Uranus delivered to the US is often extracted in Canada and then becomes an intermediate condition called Uranus Hexafluoride, which is the raw material for enrichment.
The raw material rotates in Urenc’s centrifuges to increase the presence of Uranus isotope-235 to 5%, the level required for most nuclear power plants. The enriched uranium is then delivered for distortion of manufacturers who produce the pellets that enter the reactors in the power plants.
The US nuclear power plants are facing a cumulative difference in supplies of 184 million pounds of Uranus until 2034, according to the energy information administration. The biggest difficulty at the moment for urene is the transformation of uranium into the raw material for enrichment, said Lorskulsulsint. There are only three facilities located in Canada, France and Illinois in the Western world, which make Uranus a raw material.
“Every part of the supply chain will have to expand, it’s not just about enrichment,” Lorskulsulsint said. “We need more than anything, but the conversion is the obstacle right now.”
The nuclear supply chain may not be the biggest challenge in the end, the executive said. The aging American electrical network can be a real limit to the construction of new nuclear, how long it takes to finish upgrades, he said. Although this can slow down Urenko, it will not stop the expansion, he said.
“We came here when the market wanted it,” Lorskulsulsint said about Urenc’s investment in the US, “We were here when the market did not want it. And now we are expanding to make sure that we can still support as much as the market from us.”
