A dvanced nuclear reactor developers are set to lose access to a critical source of fuel as the West breaks commercial ties with Russia, threatening to disrupt the deployment of the nuclear technologies that are considered integral to energy security and climate change mitigation.

Advanced reactor designs will require a special type of fuel called high-assay low enriched uranium, or HALEU, to operate and generate carbon-free electricity. Russia is currently the only source of commercially available HALEU in the world and was the expected source of fuel for several U.S. companies on the leading edge of advanced nuclear. But the invasion of Ukraine has thrown those plans off course as businesses face pressures to avoid commerce with Russian firms.

Moreover, Congress is considering legislation that would ban imported uranium from Russia, just as it banned Russian fossil fuel imports shortly after the war began, all of which raises the stakes of efforts to stand up HALEU production domestically in order to keep the rollout of new reactors on track.

RUSSIA’S REAL GOALS FOR ENDANGERED ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR PLANT

Maryland-based X-energy and Washington's TerraPower are two nuclear companies that have been pressing the Biden administration and Congress to prioritize HALEU. Both were awarded funding under the Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, which set a schedule of 2028 for participants to complete and demonstrate their advanced reactor-powered plant, and are expected to be among the premier firms to deploy.

Benjamin Reinke, senior director for corporate strategy at X-energy, said the company "turned over every rock" as it began charting out its fuel supply plan, but a number of prospective Western enrichment partners fell through, leaving Russia as the only viable option.

"Certainly, that was not an ideal scenario, not something that we wanted to see be the option on the table, but frankly, [Russia] was the only option on the table," Reinke told the Washington Examiner.

X-energy is moving forward steadily with its design process nonetheless. Reinke said the construction of its fuel fabrication facility can continue "up to some point" without the fuel issue resolved, but that variable has worried partners, he said.

"We have not been hindered directly in the deployment," Reinke emphasized. "However, it has been the No. 1 risk that our customers have asked us about, so in terms of, you know, building the order book and being a successful company, it has hindered us on the commercial side."

Jeff Navin, director of external affairs for Bill Gates-backed TerraPower, said the company was similarly skeptical of locking in its uranium supply chain with Russia but noted the nation's existing nuclear fleet has long an established relationship with Russian uranium producers.

TerraPower had resolved to use Russian HALEU for its initial core load, Navin told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in July, while other supply lines were being developed.

"We were always a little hesitant about that, but we thought, you know, Russia had provided and does provide [low-enriched uranium] ... to reactors," he said.

However, the invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally altered the existing energy trade between Russia and the United States, with a consensus quickly emerging in Congress to stop the funding of Russia's "war machine."

Congress's ban on Russian fossil fuel imports, which it passed and which President Joe Biden signed into law shortly after the war began, did not include a ban on Russian uranium. A bill currently before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would ban uranium imports, but even without it, companies such as TerraPower are moving on their own.

The company "will not use Russian HALEU," Navin said during the recent hearing.

"We thought we could maybe count on them for their first — to get the first core load. But obviously, when Vladimir Putin's tanks rolled into Ukraine, that calculus changed dramatically," he said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

In lieu of Russian supplies, the industry is hoping for more support from Congress to facilitate HALEU production at home. The bipartisan Energy Act of 2020 included language creating an Advanced Nuclear Fuel program for HALEU, and the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act would get the ball rolling faster by providing $700 million to the DOE for HALEU.

Reinke said the industry isn't looking for government to be in the HALEU business in the long run but that the market needs help in order to take off.

"This is one of the largest challenges we face," he said of HALEU supply. "It's the single largest supply chain risk that the industry faces writ large."