en.Wedoany.com Reported - Global enrichment service provider Urenco is expanding capacity in New Mexico, USA, in response to the trend of the West reducing its reliance on Russian uranium. Recently, the plant installed 350,000 separative work units (SWU) of new capacity, part of Urenco's total 2.5 million SWU expansion plan across the US, the Netherlands, and Germany. The New Mexico facility is the only commercial-scale enrichment plant in North America.

At current prices, this new capacity could generate approximately $250 million to $470 million in value annually, enough to supply about 18 large reactors and power roughly 14 million homes. Laurent Odeh, Chief Commercial Officer of Urenco, stated: "We are building what the market needs. We are well-positioned to build capacity faster than people can build nuclear power plants."

This move comes against the backdrop of exposed vulnerabilities in the Western uranium fuel supply chain. Statistics show that Russia accounts for approximately 44% of global enrichment capacity and 20% of conversion capacity. The US Department of Energy pledged $2.7 billion in January this year over the next decade to rebuild domestic fuel cycle capacity, including supporting companies like Orano to expand production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). Prices for conversion and enrichment services have risen sharply since 2022, with enrichment prices climbing from around $40/SWU to approximately $160/SWU.

However, Leigh Curyer, CEO of uranium miner NexGen Energy, believes the bigger bottleneck in the future may be insufficient supply from new mines. The company's Rook I project in Saskatchewan, Canada, which has received federal approval, is one of the world's largest undeveloped uranium deposits. Curyer pointed out: "The uranium price has not yet reached a level that incentivizes supply from other sources; many deposits require prices above $150 per pound to be profitable."

This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com