By Debra Utacia Krol, Arizona Republic
The Trump administration wants to revitalize the nation’s nuclear energy sector with a plan that calls for stockpiling domestic uranium and opening public lands to new uranium mining. Environmentalists, at least one Arizona tribe and a nuclear energy expert quickly pushed back on the plan.
U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette released the Nuclear Fuels Working Group report Thursday. The group, established by President Donald Trump in July 2019, was charged with fulfilling a Trump mandate to enhance uranium production after the mineral was placed on the list of strategic materials in May 2018.
Citing both national security interests and domestic needs, the group’s proposals aim to revitalize the nation’s uranium sector using a variety of methods. Among them: purchasing uranium produced in the U.S. to create a stockpile over a 10-year period with a $1.5 billion fund; investing in research and development of new reactor technology, including a deployable micro-nuclear reactor for the military sector; and prohibiting purchases from Russia and China.
