Energy Department to Establish New Consortium for Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain

Washington — The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy today took a major step forward in strengthening domestic nuclear fuel cycle supply chains. In accordance with President Trump's Executive Order, Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base, DOE is establishing the Defense Production Act (DPA) Consortium and will seek voluntary agreements with U.S. companies. Today’s action takes affirmative steps to increase fuel availability, provide more access to reliable power, and end America’s reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials needed to power the nation’s nuclear renaissance.  

“There are major gaps in our nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure that leave the United States heavily dependent on foreign sources of enriched uranium,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Mike Goff. “By leveraging authorities in the Defense Production Act, DOE is able to take swift action to bring all parties to the table to accelerate our path toward a more secure and independent energy future.” 

Under the DPA Consortium, voluntary agreements will allow industry consultation to develop plans of action to ensure that the nuclear fuel supply chain capacity for mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, deconversion, fabrication, recycling and reprocessing is available to enable the continued reliable operation of the nation’s reactors. 

DOE issued an interim final rule that will be published in the Federal Register and is seeking public comment on the standards and procedures that the Department will use to execute voluntary agreements under DPA section 708, which provides a defense from antitrust laws when certain criteria are met. The interim rule will be effective 30 days after the date of publication. Public comments must also be submitted within the 30-day timeframe. 

DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy will be working with industry participants in the coming weeks to identify participants as well as near and long-term goals.  

The first meeting of the DPA Consortium is October 14, 2025. 

Companies interested in joining the DPA Consortium should send an email to DPAConsortium@nuclear.energy.gov. 

The request submitted should explain their involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle and interest in partnering with DOE, along with the name(s) of your representative, email, and phone number. 

Membership requires approval by the Office of Nuclear Energy. Interested parties may register more than one individual.  

The DPA Consortium will operate separately from currently appropriated low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium procurement and allocation programs but may inform future programmatic efforts. 

Please visit the DPA Consortium Federal Register Notice or DPA Consortium project page for more information.