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From about the 1960s to the mid-1980s, the United States was a leader in uranium mining. But domestic production of the mineral, which is primarily used as fuel for nuclear reactors, has since fallen off a cliff.
“A lot of this was because it was a government priority. And we strategically used government funding and subsidies to support it. However, what kind of started happening during the 90s is we saw a de-prioritization away from uranium,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Several high-profile nuclear accidents, including the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, also negatively affected public perception of nuclear energy and tanked uranium prices, leading many domestic uranium producers to shutter their mines.
The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, but the latest available data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that the U.S. imports over 95% of the uranium feedstock needed to power its 94 nuclear reactors.
