Steve Antony opines that in a world anxious about notable political shakeups, the U.S. nuclear sector may be reenergized under President-Elect Trump through his nomination of Rex Tillerson (CEO of Exxon-Mobil) for Secretary of State, and Rick Perry (former Governor of Texas) as Energy Secretary.
Antony reminds us that the two major platforms of Trump campaign were U.S. energy independence and jobs. It follows that Trump and his team can greatly promote both of these interests through nuclear energy and uranium mining. While many people think about oil when discussing energy independence, the U.S. greatest foreign energy dependence issues are likely in the nuclear industry. However, they need to understand just how dependent on foreign uranium our nuclear sector really is at present a truly national security issue.
It is a well-known fact that nuclear power accounts for 20% of U.S. electrical generation (and 63% of our emission-free electricity). However, as the CEO of the 2nd largest uranium producer in the U.S, he sees risk in being far more dependent on foreign uranium than the U.S. has ever been on foreign oil.
In 2015, U.S. nuclear utilities purchased 56.5 million pounds of uranium, of which only 3.4 million pounds were produced in the U.S. More than 90% of the uranium used to fuel our fleet of nuclear power plants comes from foreign suppliers. Indeed, almost 21 million pounds (about 37%) of the uranium used in U.S. reactors in 2015 came from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, up from 16.5 million pounds in 2012 (about 29%). And, the problem is only getting worse, U.S. uranium production averaged over 4.6 million pounds per year for 2012 to 2014. However, it decreased almost 20% between 2014 and 2015. And through three quarters in 2016, U.S. uranium production has dropped another 20%.
Nonetheless, the U.S. and Canada have significant potential and proven uranium supplies available for mining in WY, Utah, ND, CO, TX, NM, WA, and VA and Alaska.
Read on.
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