US issues permit for Triso-X to make HALEU uranium

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear power regulator said on Friday it issued a license to Triso-X to make a special uranium fuel for commercial reactors.

The fuel, high assay low enriched uranium, or HALEU, has traditionally been made in Russia.

Triso-X, a subsidary of X-energy, plans to make HALEU at at a plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. "Commercial-scale production of this fuel is key to enabling the deployment of advanced reactor designs," said Ho K. Nieh, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Joel Duling, president of TRISO-X, said: "Regulatory approval brings us one step closer to a resilient, American fuel supply for next-generation nuclear technology, closing a longstanding gap in the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle."

Several new reactors being planned by X-energy and other companies are designed to run on HALEU, but are not yet licensed by the NRC.

President Donald Trump wants the U.S. to quadruple nuclear energy output by 2050 as U.S. power demand rises for the first time in decades because of large new data centers needed for artificial intelligence, electric transportation and crypto currencies. Last May Trump ordered the regulator to speed up permitting for nuclear reactors and facilities.

HALEU includes up to 20% enriched uranium, as opposed to about 5% enriched fuel used in today's reactors. It has traditionally been made in commercial amounts only by Russia but is now also being developed in the United States by Centrus LEU.N.

Proliferation experts have warned that HALEU above about 12% enriched could be used to create a crude nuclear weapon.

An X-energy spokesperson said its fuel is proliferation-resistant: "The design of our reactors – to be melt-proof and achieve high burnup and fuel utilization – means there are no remaining active materials in our spent fuel once it leaves the reactor."