WNN reports that the Uranium Producers of America recommends that the DOE should stop all sales by DOE when the uranium spot market price is below the U.S. EIA reported production cost for uranium (currently $35.453 per pound), and that under no circumstance should it transfer more uranium than the U.S. uranium industry is producing that year.
It calls for the DOE to work with Congress to pass legislation establishing statutory limits on excess uranium transfers and enhancing transparency and predictability associated with transfers. It also says the DoE should seek to maximize taxpayer value for this asset, including working to place the excess uranium into the long-term market where, it says, uncommitted demand is better able to absorb it. High-enriched uranium downblended through the DOEs National Nuclear Security Administration should be used to provide fuel for research and advanced reactors, the UPA said.
The Energy Independence Policy Executive Order includes a clause ordering the heads of agencies to review regulations and other actions that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources including nuclear. UPA is confident the uranium industry can provide a stable, domestic supply of uranium to power U.S. nuclear reactors, but the market needs time to recover and the industry needs room in the market to compete. The DOE uranium is crowding out the market and accounting for nearly all the near-term uncommitted U.S. utility demand this year, the UPA said.
The DOE holds uranium in various forms that have been declared as excess and not needed for U.S. national security missions, some of which it has previously transferred in exchange for services such as the clean-up of the former Portsmouth and other gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants, and for the downblending of highly enriched uranium.
In May 2015, Energy Secretary Moniz incorrectly determined that transfers would not impact industry, which it clearly does.
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