Je veux savoir à propos de…

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 145 / Monday, August 2, 2021 / Notices production expected for 2019 see Figure 65.
Projected 2019 U.S. uranium production would be sufficient to fuel only one of these reactors. TEXT
REDACTED Low U.S. production levels denote that a sudden loss of access to foreign uranium supplies has the potential to severely disrupt the nuclear power plants that provide almost onefifth of the nations electricity.
TEXT REDACTED Therefore, a remedy to resolve the inhibiting factors to production must be implemented so that U.S. miners are once again reliable
41595

suppliers of uranium, and with additional U.S. capability to convert and enrich the mined uranium, U.S. utilities are able to fulfill their need of domestic uranium for national security or national emergency use.
As previously discussed, the stockpile maintained by DOE is anticipated to satisfy needs for LEU and HEU through 2041 and 2060 respectively. However, U.S. nuclear electric power utilities only maintain enough inventory of uranium to fuel their reactors for an average of TEXT REDACTED see Figure 66. The compounded effects of both minimal
inventory and minimal U.S. production highlights the national security threat imposed by U.S. nuclear electric utilities near complete dependence on imports of uranium to fuel their reactors. In the event of a supply disruption, U.S. utilities would be unable to supply the 19 percent of U.S.
electricity consumption they usually provide after TEXT REDACTED. The continued loss in U.S. production capabilities ensures that a disruption in supply to the nations 98 reactors would be catastrophic to U.S. critical infrastructure.

demand. By 2016, global uranium production filled 98 percent of world demand.
However, the increasing pace of reactor retirements, cancellation of proposed new reactors, and excess supply caused by the shutdown of German and Japanese reactors all impacted the global uranium market.
Accordingly, between 2016 and 2017, global uranium production dropped by 4.7 percentremaining production could satisfy 93 percent of 2017
demand. As more reactors come online in certain regions, particularly in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, global demand is expected to grow once more.
By 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that global uranium demand could be as high as 68,920 metric tonsa 10 percent
increase on 2016 levels. However, current poor market conditions, exacerbated by artificially low-priced SOE producers, have forced many producers in the U.S. and other countries to idle production or close mines entirely. U.S. and other market producers may therefore not be present in the market to take advantage of higher future demand.
Thus, while U.S. production declined by 16 percent between 2016 and 2017, Russian and Kazakh production declined only by 5.1 and 2.9 percent respectively see Figure 67. Uzbek production remained constant. Even Canada and Australia, which have historically produced more than the U.S., cut their production to a greater degree than did Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

TEXT REDACTED
TEXT REDACTED
TEXT REDACTED

E. Uranium Market Distortion by StateOwned Enterprises Is a Circumstance That Contributes to the Weakening of the Domestic Economy 1. Excess Russian, Kazakh, and Uzbek Production Adversely Affects Global Markets and Creates a Dangerous U.S.
Dependence on Uranium From These Countries Although global uranium production increased by 42 percent between 2008
and 2016, the subsequent supply glut following the Fukushima disaster and reactor retirements has begun to affect production.145 As the potential for new reactor construction increased, new mines came online to meet potential demand. In 2008, the worlds uranium mines produced enough uranium to fulfill 70 percent of existing world
FIGURE 67: CHANGES IN URANIUM PRODUCTION, 20162017
2016 Production metric tons uranium
United States
Canada
Australia
Russia
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
China

2017 Production metric tons uranium
1,125
14,039
6,315
3,004
24,586
2404
1616

940
13,116
5,882
2,917
23,321
2404
1885

Change in production percentage 16.4
6.55
6.86
2.89
5.14
0 16.6

Source: World Nuclear Association, March 2019, 2018 data has not been released.

145 World Uranium Mining Production. World Nuclear Association. http www.world-nuclear.org/

VerDate Sep<11>2014

19:47 Jul 30, 2021

Jkt 253001

information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-ofuranium/world-uranium-mining-production.aspx.

PO 00000

Frm 00057

Fmt 4701

Sfmt 4703

E:FRFM02AUN2.SGM

02AUN2

EN02AU21.050

khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES2

Country