Building a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain

Apr 2, 2026

Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter, a leader building U.S. uranium enrichment capacity. He breaks down the five-step fuel chain and why enrichment is a critical choke point. They discuss U.S. reliance on Russian enrichment, differences between LEU and HALEU, the HALU supply gap for advanced reactors, and General Matter’s Paducah strategy and timeline.

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INSIGHT

Conversion Capacity Is A Close Second Bottleneck

Conversion capacity in the U.S. is extremely limited with one long-running Honeywell/Converdine plant in Illinois nearing its limits.
That plant has been ramping back after being mothballed and likely needs new facilities if U.S. enrichment doubles.

INSIGHT

U.S. Relies Heavily On Foreign Enrichment

Today about 75% of U.S. enrichment needs are met by European producers and roughly 20–25% by Russia; virtually no large-scale U.S. commercial enrichment exists.
Urenco's New Mexico plant covers roughly 20% of U.S. demand; the rest is imported.

ANECDOTE

How History Hollowed Out U.S. Enrichment

The U.S. lost dominant enrichment position after the Cold War and Megatons to Megawatts program shifted supply to Russia and Europe.
The U.S. went from 86% global share to under 0.1% as gas diffusion closed while centrifuge tech expanded abroad.

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Even as momentum grows for U.S. nuclear, the fuel supply chain is often overlooked. This dynamic is shifting as the industry wakes up to critical choke points and a heavy reliance on countries like Russia for enrichment. As America aims to reduce geopolitical dependency in energy, fixing these domestic gaps has become a strategic priority.

In this episode — a companion to a separate episode of Catalyst focused on nuclear waste — Shayle Kann speaks with Scott Nolan, the CEO of General Matter. The company is focused on enrichment, one of the most acute risk areas in the supply chain. Shayle and Scott also discuss the big-picture state of nuclear fuel, from mining to advanced reactor requirements.

The two cover topics like:

The five-step nuclear fuel supply chain
America’s continued reliance on Russian enrichment:
The history of enrichment decline in the US
The "chicken or egg" problem for advanced reactors
Distinctions between LEU and HALEU fuel
Enrichment’s toll-service business model
The strategic importance of General Matter’s enrichment facility in Paducah, Kentucky

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Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.

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