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to begin evaluating the use of MOX at TVA’s Sequoyah plant in Tennessee and the Browns Ferry plant in Alabama. In order to use MOX at the TVA nuclear power plants, TVA must submit requests for licence amendments for the plants to the NRC. As of 31 December 2016, no such applications had been filed with the NRC. Once filed, it is likely to take the NRC one to two years to complete its review of the applications.

Production and/or use of re-enriched tails

DOE and the Bonneville Power Administration initiated a pilot project to re-enrich a portion of DOE’s tails inventory. This project produced approximately 1 940 tonnes of low-enriched uranium between 2005 and 2006 for use by Energy Northwest’s 1 190 MWe Columbia Generating Station between 2007 and 2015. In mid-2012, Energy Northwest and United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), in conjunction with DOE, developed a new plan to re-enrich a portion of DOE’s high assay tails. The 2013 project produced approximately 3 738 tonnes of natural uranium, which will be used through 2029 to fuel Energy Northwest and TVA reactors.

In 2016, DOE agreed to sell depleted uranium to GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment, LLC (GLE) over a 40-year period, which would be enriched at a proposed GLE facility. GLE will finance, construct, own and operate the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) adjacent to the DOE site. Silex Systems, an Australian-owned company developing the laser enrichment technology, has licensed GLE to supply the depleted uranium.

Production and/or use of reprocessed uranium

Reprocessed uranium use and production is zero.

In June 2008, DOE submitted a licence application to the NRC to receive authorisation to begin construction of a repository at Yucca Mountain, and in September 2008, the NRC formally docketed the application. President Obama announced in March 2009 that the proposed permanent repository at Yucca Mountain was no longer an option and that the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) would evaluate alternatives to deal with spent nuclear fuel. On 26 January 2012, the BRC issued its final report that recommended moving forward with a publicly supported siting process for a permanent repository and federally chartering an organisation to manage this process. The BRC also recommended development of an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel until a permanent repository is available. With regard to reprocessing or recycling, the BRC noted that “…no currently available or reasonably foreseeable reactor and fuel cycle technology developments – including advances in reprocessing and recycling technologies – have the potential to fundamentally alter the waste management challenge this nation confronts over at least the next several decades, if not longer…”.

Environmental activities and socio-cultural issues

Remediation activities

Navajo Nation

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is engaged in remediating uranium mining and milling impacted sites on the Navajo Nation. Between 2008 and 2012, highpriority remediation for 34 contaminated homes, 9 mine sites, and drinking water supplies for 1 825 families was completed. In addition, 240 water supplies and 520 mines were assessed. The remediation effort completed between 2008 and 2012 cost in excess of 100 million USD. Plans for a second phase of remediation from 2014 to 2018 were completed by EPA. The main objectives are to remediate homes, increase water infrastructure to mining areas, focus on 43 priority mines located near homes, clean up the NE Church Rock mine and Tuba City dump, treat groundwater at mill sites, conduct

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health studies and expand interagency outreach. Implementation of this plan has begun and as of 2016 includes: a) detailed clean-up investigations of six mines, with urgent actions completed at five high-priority mines; b) provision of safe drinking water to 3 013 homes in abandoned uranium mine regions; c) a community outreach effort organised to inform residents of agency work and health dangers related to uranium mining on the Navajo Nation; and d) an ongoing survey of Navajo Nation mine sites. Part of this work is financed by settlements from the Kerr-McGee Corporation, which had mines on the Navajo Nation. Most mining took place before 1978.

Piketown

Decommissioning and environmental remediation continues at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketown, Ohio, which closed in 2001. In 2015, DOE created a comprehensive plan to demolish the process buildings and support structures at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Three large buildings are currently being demolished by DOE contractor Fluor-BWXT.

DOE report to Congress on defence-related uranium mines

In 2014, DOE provided to the US Congress a database of locations and degree of restoration of mines that provided uranium ore for US atomic energy defence activities. The DOE determined that 4 225 mines provided uranium ore for defence-related activities. Of these mines, 26 could not be located. Approximately 69% of the mines are in Colorado and Utah, and 23% in Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. New Mexico provided the most uranium to this national effort, while Colorado had the largest number of individual mines. Nearly half of the mines are located on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the US Department of the Interior (DOI). About 11% of the mines are on tribal lands. The remaining mines are located on non-federal and non-Indian land or land of unknown ownership.

The status of remediation was available for only 15% of the sites identified in the report. Field checking of these locations and the degree of restoration of the sites is now in progress by the DOE Office of Legacy Management.

Legislation

Federal

In 2012, over one million acres of federal land near the Grand Canyon in Arizona were withdrawn from mineral entry for 20 years due to concerns about environmental impacts of mining in this scenic area of the Colorado Plateau. Interdisciplinary studies of exploration and mining impacts in the region were initiated by the USGS in 2014 and are planned to continue throughout the course of the moratorium. These studies are focused on the impacts of mining and exploration on the Grand Canyon watershed, wildlife, water resource and people. Research is focused on exposure pathways such as wind-borne dust, surface and groundwater, soil, and food-chain pathways. Soil samples throughout the region and adjacent to the developing Canyon Mine were collected and compiled to provide background geochemical data. Pre-mining biologic samples were collected near the Canyon Mine, and showed bioaccumulation of heavy metals (As, Pb, Se, Tl and U) in tadpoles living in the mine containment pond, and little to no accumulation of mine related analytes in other biota (vegetation, birds, rodents, or terrestrial invertebrates). Analysis of springs near the Pigeon mine show elevated uranium and other elements related to natural uranium sources and not mining activity. A more precise permissive area for breccia pipe deposits has been delineated in support of land use planning.

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State

The state of Wyoming is implementing legislation passed in 2015 that directs the state to work with the NRC to transfer oversight of aspects of the uranium mining industry to the state. Regulations will remain the same, but the state would take primacy with regulatory oversight by the NRC. The proposal is designed to lower costs and shorten regulatory timelines, in particular for uranium recovery licensing applications. Texas, Utah and Colorado are currently “agreement states” with regulatory primacy granted to these states by the NRC.

Litigation

A detailed summary of ongoing litigation related to the Secretary of Energy’s 2014 determination regarding management of excess uranium inventory is provided in the “National policies relating to uranium” section below. See the legislation section above for information on litigation of land withdrawn from mineral entry near the Grand Canyon.

Regulatory regime

Regulation

Uranium recovery is regulated by the NRC and EPA, and individual states, while mining regulations for federal lands are administered through the federal agency that controls this land (such as the Bureau of Land Management). Before mining commences, Environmental Impact Statements must be completed, adequate bonding must be posted, and additional regulatory requirements specified by federal and state agencies must be satisfied.

The NRC is reviewing uranium recovery licence applications for eight ISL facilities, four of which are on hold as requested by the applicant. NRC has received a letter of intent from seven additional applicants, all of which have been delayed by the applicants. Two applications are close to approval, AUC LLC’s Reno Creek deposit and the Jane Dough expansion to Energy Fuel’s Nichols Creek mine. Additional licensing actions may be in progress in Texas, Colorado and Utah, all of which are “agreement states” that have primacy in uranium recovery licensing.

The EPA is reviewing and revising its standards for post-closure monitoring of uranium ISL sites (40 CFR 192). The proposed rule would focus on groundwater protection and restoration at ISL mining facilities. Post-restoration groundwater standards would be set for 12 constituents and monitoring requirements would be added. Post-restoration remediation and monitoring is currently administered by individual states, after EPA exempts the aquifer to be mined using ISL techniques from regulation under the Federal Clean Water Act of 1972. After reviewing public comments in 2015, EPA re-proposed the rule and solicited additional public comment rather than finalising the rule. Any new or revised standards must be adopted by the NRC, and its agreement states.

Uranium requirements

Annual US uranium requirements for the period 2016 to 2035 are projected to decrease from 21 068 tU in 2016 to 18 057 tU in 2035 (high case). This decrease is based on the possibility that some nuclear power plants may retire early due to financial uncertainties in competitive markets. These estimates include the operations of the new Watts Bar unit 2 in Tennessee and the construction of Vogtle units 3 and 4 and V.C. Summer units 2 and 3. The V.C. Summer construction project was suspended in 2017 and its future is uncertain. Illinois and New York passed zero-emission credit legislation in 2016 to provide price support for nuclear power plants operating at a loss in those states. Several other US states are also examining legislative options for their nuclear power industry.

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Supply and procurement strategy

The United States allows supply and procurement of uranium to be driven by market forces with resultant sales and purchases conducted solely in the private sector by firms involved in the uranium mining and nuclear power industries.

Uranium policies, uranium stocks and uranium prices

National policies relating to uranium

In July 2013, DOE released the revised DOE Excess Uranium Inventory Management Plan (2013 Plan). The 2013 Plan identified uranium inventories that have entered the commercial uranium market since the issuance of the December 2008 Plan, as well as transactions that are ongoing or being considered by DOE through 2021. In the 2013 Plan, the guideline that the annual inventory release rate should not exceed 10% of US uranium requirements was removed. Several determinations have been made by the Secretary of Energy since 2008 to assess whether these transactions would have an adverse impact on the domestic uranium mining, conversion, or enrichment industries. The determinations are required every two years. The June 2014 Secretarial determination found that continued transfers would have no impact on the domestic industry.

On 26 April 2017, US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry issued a determination permitting DOE to continue making uranium transfers to support ongoing clean-up work at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio, while also reducing the total amount of those transfers per year from 1 600 tU to 1 200 tU.

Uranium stocks

As of 2016, total commercial inventories (producer and utility stocks) were 55 615 tU, a 7% increase from the 52 115 tU of inventories held in 2015. Over 89% of the commercial inventories, or 49 230 tU, were held by owners and operators of commercial reactors. This was a 5% increase from the 46 577 tU owned by this group at the end of 2015.

Enriched uranium inventories held by utilities (including fuel elements in storage) increased 2% from 2015 to 2016 (20 140 tU in 2015 to 20 591 tU in 2016), whereas natural uranium inventories held by utilities (including UF6 in storage) increased 9% from 2015 to 2016 (26 453 tU in 2015 to 28 857 in 2016).

Excess uranium inventories held by the US government were last reported in 2013. At that time, the government possessed 56 031 tU, which includes 17 596 tU of uranium concentrates, 12 485 tU of enriched uranium, and 25 950 tU of depleted uranium.

Uranium prices

Owners and operators of US civilian nuclear power reactors (civilian owner/operators or COOs) purchased a total of 19 463 tU of deliveries from US suppliers and foreign suppliers during 2016, at a weighted-average price of USD 80.62/kgU.

The 2016 total of 19 463 tU decreased 10% compared with the 2015 total of 21 733 tU. The 2016 weighted-average price of USD 80.62/kgU decreased 4% compared with the 2015 weighted-average price of USD 83.85/kgU.

Of the 19 463 tU delivered in 2016, 11% was US-origin uranium at a weightedaverage price of USD 83.45/kgU. Foreign-origin uranium accounted for the remaining 89% of deliveries at a weighted-average price of USD 80.30/kgU. Uranium originating in Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan accounted for 38% of the 19 463 tU. Australianand Canadian-origin uranium together accounted for 40%. The remaining 22% originated from Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Malawi, Namibia, Niger, South Africa and Ukraine.

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COOs purchased uranium of three material types for 2016 deliveries from 36 sellers, the same number of sellers as in 2015. Uranium concentrate was 54% of the 19 463 tU delivered in 2016. Natural UF6 was 29% and enriched UF6 was 17%. During 2016, 22% of the uranium delivered was purchased under spot contracts at a weighted-average price of USD 56.28/kgU. The remaining 78% was purchased under long-term contracts at a weighted-average price of USD 87.61/kgU. Spot contracts are contracts with a one-time uranium delivery (usually) for the entire contract period and delivery typically occurs within one year of contract execution (signed date). Long-term contracts are contracts with one or more uranium deliveries to occur after a year following the contract execution (signed date) and as such may reflect some agreements of short and medium terms as well as longer term.

In 2016, COOs signed 50 new purchase contracts with deliveries in 2016 of 3 346 tU at a weighted-average price of USD 47.23/kgU. Five new contracts were long-term contracts with 28% of the 2016 deliveries and 45 new contracts were spot contracts with 72% of the deliveries in 2016.

COOs report minimum and maximum quantities of future deliveries under contract, to allow for the option of either decreasing or increasing quantities. As of the end of 2016, the maximum uranium deliveries for 2017 through 2026 under existing purchase contracts for COOs totalled 67 313 tU. Also as of the end of 2016, unfilled uranium market requirements for 2017 through 2026 totalled 89 623 tU. These contracted deliveries and unfilled market requirements combined represent the maximum anticipated market requirements of 156 937 tU over the ten-year period for COOs.

Average US uranium prices, 2002-2016

(USD per kilogram U-equivalent)

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Uranium Marketing

Annual Report, 2016, Table 7.

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Uranium exploration and development expenditures and drilling effort – domestic

(Expenditures in USD million)

* Non-government. NA = Not available.

1.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 8, Exploration.

2.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 8, Drilling + Land + Reclamation.

3.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 1, Exploration, feet (converted to metres using US EIA Uranium Industry Annual Appendix D Uranium Conversion Guide).

4.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 1, Exploration, Number of Holes.

5.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 1, Development Drilling.

6.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 1, Development Drilling.

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Reasonably assured conventional resources by deposit type

(in situ tonnes U)

*Includes surficial, collapse breccia pipe, phosphorite and other types of deposits, as well as rocks with elevated uranium content. Pegmatite, granites and black shale are not included.

NA = Not available.

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 10.

Reasonably assured conventional resources by production method

(in situ tonnes U)

W = Data withheld to avoid disclosure of individual company data. NA = Not available.

Note 1: US reserves data do not draw a distinction between UG and OP; the combined value is assigned to UG. Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 10.

Reasonably assured conventional resources by processing method

(in situ tonnes U)

*Also known as stope leaching or block leaching.

**A subset of open-pit and underground mining, since it is used in conjunction with them. NA = Not available.

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 10.

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Historical uranium production by deposit type

(tonnes U in concentrate)

*Includes surficial, collapse breccia pipe, phosphorite and other types of deposits, as well as rocks with elevated uranium content. Pegmatite, granites and black shale are not included.

NA = Not available.

Historical uranium production by production method

(tonnes U in concentrate)

Note: Data not available prior to 1968. W = Data withheld to avoid disclosure of individual company data. NA = Not available.

*Pre-2008 totals may include uranium recovered by heap and in-place leaching.

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 2.

Historical uranium production by processing method

(tonnes U in concentrate)

Note: Data are available from 1947 to present. W = Data withheld to avoid disclosure of individual company data. NA = Not available.

*Also known as stope leaching or block leaching.

**A subset of open-pit and underground mining, since it is used in conjunction with them.

***Includes mine water treatment and environmental restoration.

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 3.

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Ownership of uranium production in 2016

W = Data withheld to avoid disclosure of individual company data.

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 2.

Uranium industry employment at existing production centres

(person-years)

1.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 6, all sectors except Reclamation.

2.Source: US Energy Information Administration, Domestic Uranium Production Report, 2016, Table 6, all sectors except Exploration and Reclamation.

NA = Not available.

Short-term production capability

(tonnes U/year)

NA = Not available.

Mixed oxide fuel production and use1

(tonnes of natural U-equivalent)

1. OECD-NEA Nuclear Energy Data 2017.

Re-enriched tails production and use1

(tonnes of natural U-equivalent)

1. Data provided by Energy Northwest, owner-operator of the Columbia Generating Station.

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Reprocessed uranium use1

(tonnes natural U-equivalent)

1. OECD-NEA Nuclear Energy Data 2017.

Net nuclear electricity generation1

1. OECD-NEA Nuclear Energy Data 2017. p = provisional data.

Installed nuclear generating capacity to 20351

(MWe net)

1. OECD-NEA Nuclear Energy Data 2017; p = provisional data.

Annual reactor-related uranium requirements to 2035 (excluding MOX)1

(tonnes U)

1. OECD-NEA Nuclear Energy Data 2017; p = provisional data.

Total uranium stocks

(tonnes natural U-equivalent)

1.US Department of Energy, Excess Uranium Inventory Management Plan, July 2013.

2.US Energy Information Administration, Uranium Marketing Annual Report, 2016, Tables 22 and 23.

3.The value for natural uranium stocks in this table does not include natural uranium hexafluoride (UF6). Values for total utility natural uranium stocks in the text include natural UF6.

4.The value for enriched uranium stocks in this table does not include fabricated fuel elements held in storage prior to loading in the reactor. Values for total utility enriched uranium in the text include fabricated fuel elements in storage.

NA = Not available.