I work at an advanced nuclear tech company. I spend my days talking to developers of data centers, AI factories, and industrial sites—companies that hope advanced nuclear plants can meet their enormous and ever-increasing energy needs. Nearly every conversation comes down to two questions: How much will it cost? When can we get it?
Nuclear fuel has an outsized impact on both answers. To scale nuclear power, you need abundant fuel with a per-kWh cost that can compete with other energy sources like natural gas, and that’s available in a time frame that meets customer needs. You could have the best-designed plant in the world, but if its fuel costs too much or arrives too late, its power will be too expensive for customers or unavailable when they need it.
The challenge is that no fuel source checks every box: what’s available now may be expensive, what costs less may take longer, and what supports growth may require infrastructure that hasn’t been built at scale. The best approach isn’t to go all-in on one source. It’s to build a diversified fuel portfolio. Most people don’t put all their retirement savings into a single stock. That way, a bad outcome in one sector doesn’t threaten the entire plan. A similar logic applies to advanced nuclear fuel.
Advanced nuclear fuel differs from traditional fuel, which is typically enriched less than 5% and shaped into small oxide pellets. Advanced fuel has a higher enrichment level or a different form factor. It is more energy dense and efficient, but its supply chain is just beginning to grow.
There are three sources of advanced fuel: fresh fuel made from newly mined uranium, government-sourced material, and fuel recycled from nuclear waste. Using them together can reduce supply risk, control costs, and help scale advanced nuclear power faster than any single source.
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