Spent Nuclear Fuel Could Be America's Answer to Russia's Uranium Grip
By Haley Zaremba - May 31, 2026, 12:00 PM CDT
- BLSK Energy has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Argonne National Laboratory to commercialize pyroprocessing, a high-temperature method capable of extracting reusable fuel from nuclear waste.
- The U.S. holds approximately 95,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel -- a costly liability that pyroprocessing could turn into a low-cost, carbon-free energy source for advanced fast reactors.
- BLSK aims to bring a pilot plant online by 2034 as the Trump administration pushes to reduce American dependence on Russian-controlled uranium supply chains.
Nuclear fuel is becoming a geopolitical battleground as the world increasingly turns to nuclear energy to contend with skyrocketing energy demand projections. The combination of an oil-based energy crisis emanating out of the Strait of Hormuz, the enormous and ballooning energy needs of artificial intelligence, and the urgent imperative of decarbonization is garnering a renewed interest in nuclear energy as a carbon-free, efficient, and round-the-clock power source.
Moreover, nuclear energy can be produced pretty much anywhere, making it a strategic option for energy independence and autonomy. But the production of nuclear fuel is tied up in a small number of supply chains, many of which are controlled by Russia. And global prices for uranium are rising quickly thanks to increased international demand. The World Nuclear Association projects that global uranium demand will increase 28 percent by 2030 and nearly double by 2040, causing increased competition for nuclear fuel in coming years. Homeshoring and nearshoring nuclear fuel supply chains has therefore become a paramount energy security interest for many nuclear-capable countries.
As the West regains an interest in nuclear energy, however, it may be too late for Europe and the United States to get a foothold in key uranium markets. "Russian and Chinese players have been very keen to secure access to resources in central Asia and Africa, creating a very aggressive competitive environment," Benjamin Godwin at Prism Strategic Intelligence told the Financial Times last year.
The United States is taking several simultaneous approaches to solving this issue, as the Trump administration aims to reestablish the U.S. as the global leader in nuclear energy. The country sits atop massive natural uranium deposits, and could one day become a major producer of nuclear fuel. However, building up those supply chains will take a lot of time, and increased nuclear fuel demand won't wait. In the interim, there is another major source of uranium supplies that is already in the country's possession: spent nuclear fuel.
The current administration has invested aggressively into research for recovering usable uranium from discarded nuclear fuel, kept in temporary storage facilities across the nation while they await the development of permanent nuclear waste sites. "Used nuclear fuel is an incredible untapped resource in the United States," Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish was recently quoted by World Nuclear News. "The Trump Administration is taking a common-sense approach to making sure we're using our resources in the most efficient ways possible to secure American energy independence and fuel our economic growth."
It seems that that investment is already paying off. This month, New York-based nuclear startup BLSK Energy announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Illinois to commercialize a cutting-edge nuclear fuel recovery method based on pyroprocessing technology.
"Pyroprocessing (or pyrochemical processing) is a high-temperature metallurgical process that could enable the reuse of nuclear fuel," explained Interesting Engineering in a recent report. "When used with fast reactors, it could extract up to 100 times more energy from uranium."
BLSK Energy aims to bring a pilot plant online by 2034 that would be capable of extracting nuclear material suitable for advanced fast reactors from nuclear waste. "The path ahead is ambitious but achievable," said BLSK Energy managing director and co-founder Bruce Landrey.
If successful, the technology has enormous potential to turn a major liability into an incredible asset. The United States has accumulated approximately 95,000 tonnes (104,000 tons) of spent nuclear fuel. That fuel is radioactive and poses a major challenge for storage and safe disposal, all of which comes at a serious cost to taxpayers. Recycling that fuel for an inexpensive and climate-friendly energy source is therefore a major win-win.
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
