December 14, 2022 |
The much heralded next-gen nuclear power plant slated to be built near Kemmerer will be delayed by at least two years because the U.S. is at war with Russia.
The developers of Terra Power said the 2028 target date for the Natrium plant hinged on purchasing fuel from Russia. The Biden Administration’s hawkish war policy toward Russia combined with its America-last domestic energy policy will push the project back to 2030.
Image courtesy TerraPower.
Russia is the dominant player in global supply chains of nuclear reactor technology and fuel. Russia owned 40% of the total uranium conversion infrastructure in the world in 2020, and 46% of the total uranium enrichment capacity in the world in 2018, according to a report published by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy in May of 2022. There were 439 nuclear reactors in operation around the globe in 2021, and 38 of them were in Russia, an additional 57 were either built or under construction with Russian nuclear reactor technology.
President Biden didn’t target the nuclear sector when he issued an executive order earlier this year blocking imports of Russian crude and natural gas. The fallout from the policy, however, finally has caught up to the nuclear power supply chain.
Wyoming Senator John Barrasso supports the Biden Administration’s hardline policy with Russia over the hostilities in Ukraine. Barrasso said Tuesday that Terra Power’s announcement is a wake-up call that the U.S. must invest in the domestic fuel cycle. “America must reestablish itself as the global leader in nuclear energy,” the senator said in a statement. “Instead of relying on our adversaries like Russia for uranium, the United States must produce its own supply of advanced nuclear fuel.”
The senator also sent a letter to Department of Energy Secretary Granholm blasting her agency for not moving fast enough to develop a domestic supply of the type of fuel needed for advanced Natrium reactor. Russia also leads the U.S. that area of nuclear fuel.
Developing a domestic uranium supply would be a boon to southern Wyoming because of deposits here.
Terra Power still plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony next year at the project site where Pacific Power’s coal-burning Naughton Plant is slated to retire in 2025.
