In a remote, dusty corner of New Mexico, so near to the Texas border that if you wander too close your smartphone changes time zones, sits a pristine factory that is the best chance for the US to wean itself off an addiction that few knew it had: uranium enriched in Russia. Outside the $5-billion Urenco plant in Eunice, cacti and lizards bask in the fierce sunlight, watched by heavily armed guards. Inside, the facility is spotless, with bright, polished machinery that looks brand new even though some of the equipment has been in service for years. Hundreds of centrifuges, each at least 20 feet tall, spin at supersonic speeds and generate an ear-piercing whine that reverberates across a cavernous hall, where they separate the uranium isotopes needed to make fuel for nuclear power plants. For security reasons, parts of the piping that connect the Eunice machines are shielded from curious visitors.
pledged during a March meeting to diversify the nuclear fuel supply chain with “like-minded allies” and to better coordinate conversion, enrichment and fabrication. Within three weeks, they recruited France and the UK to help push Russia out of the nuclear fuel business altogether.
The process of converting milled uranium into UF6 gas is the most acute bottleneck in the US nuclear fuel cycle. The only conversion facility in the US was shuttered in 2017, when the global market was oversupplied and prices plunged. That forced utilities to draw down inventory and purchase internationally, opening the door to Russia and China, which together control about two-thirds of the global uranium conversion market.
Urenco is the second-largest enricher with a global market share of about 30% and half of the US market. It entered the sector in the mid-1970s, when the uranium-enrichment industry was dominated by US and Russian engineers whose purpose was to refine and stockpile huge volumes of the heavy metal for warheads. Urenco centrifuges in Europe are among the few outside Russia still spinning from the Cold War era.
The US wants to see investors profit from each link in the supply chain. Congress is considering legislation to establish a national stockpile of nuclear fuel made in the US — equivalent to the country’s strategic oil reserve that can be tapped in an emergency — with at least two contracts signed before 2027. On top of that, the US Inflation Reduction Act offers tax benefits and loan guarantees to the industry.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Horse race track in Washington turns prehistoric as 200 ‘T. rexes’ race to the finish lineOver 200 people from half a dozen states raced down a track in inflatable Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur costumes in this year’s “T-Rex World Championships' held in suburban Seattle.
Leer más »
On Nagasaki Anniversary, UN Chief Warns 'Humanity Now Confronts a New Arms Race''We will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons,' he said, calling for abolishing such arms.
Leer más »
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ Spinoffs Score New SeasonsMTV and Paramount+ have ordered more 'RuPaul's Drag Race,' 'RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars' and 'Untucked.'
Leer más »
The New Race to Reach the Moon—and Find WaterThe promise of water draws countries, companies to moon’s south pole; Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crash is the second failed landing this year.
Leer más »
The New Race to Reach the Moon—and Find WaterThe promise of water draws countries and companies to the moon’s south pole. Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crash is the second failed landing this year.
Leer más »