Inside the uranium factory in the center of the United States, he plans to expand nuclear energy

UNIS, New Mexico – Paul Lorsclint was the director of a transformation in a new enrichment facility in the depth of the American southwest when the disaster struck Japan in 2011.

The huge tsunami and the earthquake caused a severe accident at the Fukushima Dychi nuclear power plant. Thousands of miles in UNICA, New Mexico, Lorskulsint operated the TV to make sure that his team could witness what was happening across the Pacific.

Lorskulsint knew that the catastrophe in Japan was a separate moment of the nuclear industry. The factory, which was led by a shift in operations, was opened in 2010, after European Oranium Triricher spent years in building the facility in anticipation of the increasing demand.

During the next decade, general support for nuclear energy and dozens of reactors were closed in the United States, as the industry has struggled to compete against a flood of cheap natural gas and renewable energy. The demand for low -fertilized uranium that feeds nuclear plants has diminished.

“The price of what we sold is mainly over the ground,” Lorscolnetch, who is now the chief nuclear official at Urenco USA, told CNBC. He said that the long -term Ornko contracts with the facilities wereolated the facility during the decline period, but the low prices had put more expansion plans to wait.

Its headquarters is outside London, owned by Urenco by the British and Dutch government and German facilities. The New Mexico facility is the only remaining commercial enrichment facility in the United States in the last commercial facility owned by the United States in Baduka, Kentucky, closed in 2013, and its owner in the United States escaped the enrichment company during the contraction period after Fukushima.

Fourteen years later, the situation was reflected again. Urenco USA is racing to expand its enrichment. The nuclear industry is gaining momentum, as the demand for electricity in the United States is expected to rise from artificial intelligence and push for the expansion of local manufacturing. Doubts are still if US power supply will increase enough to meet the needs. Increased uranium enrichment will be a major part of the process, despite the date of the disappointments of the past.

Also, enriched uranium diseases in the United States are at risk. The United States is still importing 20 % of Fertified uranium from Russia In 2024, the legacy of hope that was now destroyed in friendship between the two countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

The United States will fully prohibit Russian imports in uranium by 2028 in Ripsons on Moscow’s extensive invasion of Ukraine, leaving a deficit of the gap when Washington, facilities and technology developed the most ambitious plans in decades to build new reactors.

Nuclear plants like Palisades In Michigan, Clean Energy Center Crane In Pennsylvania and Duan Arnold In Iowa, it plans to restart the operations in this contract after the closure years ago. The technology sector is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to bring advanced online reactors in the thirties of the last century to help operate computer warehouses that train and operate artificial intelligence applications.

“It is a pivotal moment, during the five years to the next ten years for the nuclear industry,” said Lorscolent. “We will have to bear on time, on time and continue to maintain this momentum, which is a major challenge.”

In Washington, in depth, nuclear energy support is one of the few issues that can still mobilize some support from the two parties. president Donald Trump He wants it Quartet nuclear energy by 2050A significant increase in President Joe Biden’s former goal in three times by that date.

The United States has built only a new nuclear factory from the zero point during the past thirty years, which raised doubts about whether these ambitious plans could be achieved. But any large or small effort to expand nuclear energy in the United States will run through the Orenco facility in New Mexico.

The factory currently has the ability to save about a third of the United States with an investment of $ 5 billion in the facility so far. Orenco expands its capacity in New Mexico by 15 % to 2027, where your interdies replace Russian fuel. She installed the new centrifugal waterfalls for enrichment this year. Lorsclint said that Ornko’s expansion alone would not fill the Russian show gap.

“Our competitors will have to expand in order to ensure that the industry is still provided as a whole,” he said. “We are building quickly as we can make sure that the industry is not short.”

With the prohibition of Russian fuel from the United States, the Trump administration pushes 10 new large reactors to start building this contract. alphabet Invested in about 2 GB of the new nuclear, Amazon Adhere to more than 5 gigawatts, and Dead He wants to bring up to 4 GB online.

Lorsclint said the industry is concerned about the show gap, but its fullness “is not an uninterrupted task.”

Urenco USA is a candidate to receive a contract from the Ministry of Energy to produce more low -fertilized uranium, part of Efforts to stand in the local nuclear supply chain. The contract will allow the New Mexico facility to expand with the construction of a fourth production building.

Urenco’s competitors also seek support from the energy department to build the American enrichment capacity. France Urano plans to build a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where operations are likely to start in the thirties.

It was circulated publicly Centers It has a facility in Pikitone, Ohio, where she plans to produce low -enriched uranium, but it has not yet started commercial operations. Centrus is the back company of Enrimp Corporation in the United States, which was saved in 2013.

Centrus shares have gained more than 400 % this year as investors are betting on the increasing demand for enriched uranium due to the United States’ plans to expand nuclear energy.