Scott Melbye took time out from the World Nuclear Symposium in London, England on Wednesday to speak with Cowboy State Daily about Uranium Energy Corp.'s announcement to develop a new state-of-the-art American uranium refining and conversion facility.
Melbye wouldn’t say exactly where Wyoming sits in the selection process to be home to the facility, which UEC is just starting to roll out. The company joins nuclear industry players like Radiant and BWXT, which are also considering expansions into Wyoming.
Once the new facility is complete, no matter where it’s located, it will likely help supply the refined atomic ingredients needed to fuel every type of reactor, including microreactors like those Radiant hopes to manufacture in Bar Nunn.
The executive vice president of UEC and president of the Uranium Producers of America, Melbye was attending the landmark 50th edition of the symposium at the Royal Lancaster hotel when he explained why Tuesday’s announcement represents major news for the nuclear fuel supply chain.
"There's only three in the western world," Melbye said, referring to existing uranium conversion facilities. "There's one in France, one in Ontario, Canada, and one in Illinois in the United States. So we would be the second and would be the largest in the U.S. at full capacity."
Wyoming Home?
Wyoming finds itself in competition for the facility, given UEC's extensive uranium mining operations in the other states — namely Arizona and Texas.
Thanks to companies like UEC, Wyoming recently surpassed Texas to become the No. 2 uranium producing state, as it appears on track to surpass Utah to become the No. 1 producer.
Now it appears to be competing with Texas for the top spot when it comes to refining and conversion.
UEC’s corporate headquarters are in Corpus Christi, and like Wyoming, Texas offers a strong energy-centric workforce and favorable regulatory environment.
"Obviously, Wyoming will be in the consideration," Melbye said. “But at this stage, we're looking at a number of potential sites."
He emphasized that UEC is conducting "a formal siting process that looks at everything from workforce to logistics to strategic relationships to also state incentives that might be offered to sites."
When pressed about Wyoming's chances, Melbye's enthusiasm for the state was evident.
"As a Wyoming uranium producer, we love the state of Wyoming. We love the workforce. It's probably one of the best jurisdictions in the world, in our opinion. So we love it there,” offered Melbye.
However, he stressed the company must complete its comprehensive evaluation process, noting that "local interest, support, acceptance, all factor in" to the final decision.
Conversion Capacity
Melbye explained why this facility represents a crucial missing piece in America's nuclear fuel supply chain. The conversion process takes uranium concentrate from mines and refines it into uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) gas, which serves as the essential feedstock for uranium enrichment.
"In order to get nuclear fuel, the fabricated fuel assemblies, the initial steps they take are obviously the mining of uranium to yellowcake, and then the yellowcake has to be converted to UF₆ gas," Melbye said.
The facility would serve multiple critical customers.
Electric utility companies represent the primary market, as they purchase components of the nuclear fuel cycle to create fuel assemblies for their reactors. But the applications extend beyond commercial power generation.
"The naval propulsion program, our aircraft carriers and submarines run on U.S. origin uranium. And this would be supportive also of our defense missions," Melbye said. "So it has that added benefit. And that's obviously of attraction to the federal government as we are going to need to replenish our strategic stockpiles in the coming years."
Virginia-based BWXT is evaluating locations in Wyoming for a new nuclear TRISO fuel production facility to support advanced reactor deployment.
TRISO fuel consists of poppy seed-sized uranium particles wrapped in multiple protective layers that act like tiny nuclear armor, designed to contain radioactive materials even under the most extreme reactor conditions.
BWXT has no direct relationship with UEC, but spokesperson John Dobken said his company sees upside to UEC siting its facility in Wyoming.
"Conversion is a critical piece in the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, prior to enrichment," said Dobken. "We welcome multiple suppliers and certainly support the growth of the industry."
Discussion Continues
UEC’s announcement adds another chapter to ongoing discussions about establishing nuclear energy enterprises in Wyoming. Melbye drew parallels to help explain the concept to Wyoming audiences.
"Wyoming's familiar with refineries. We're basically building a refinery, so it's just taking the raw material and taking it to the next step," he said, distinguishing the conversion process from more controversial aspects of nuclear energy.
"We're not talking about the back end of the fuel cycle here," Melbye emphasized, referring to nuclear waste management issues that continue to draw a lot of attention in communities like Bar Nunn, Gillette and Rock Springs, where some see nuclear as a future pillar of economic development.
The siting process will consider approximately "30 different things," according to Melbye, who stressed the importance of community acceptance.
"We want to go to places where the community wants us," he said.
Freshly Launched
According to UEC's official announcement, the company launched United States Uranium Refining & Conversion Corp. (UR&C) as a wholly owned subsidiary to pursue feasibility of the new facility.
"Positioning UEC as the only vertically integrated U.S. company with uranium mining, processing, refining and conversion capabilities is both a significant commercial opportunity and a strategic necessity for the United States," stated Amir Adnani, UEC President and CEO.
The press release highlighted that UEC would provide "a secure, geopolitically reliable source of Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6), the critical feedstock for enrichment that enables the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), fuels essential to powering large, small and advanced reactors."
Spencer Abraham, UEC chairman and former U.S. Secretary of Energy, emphasized the national security implications: "For far too long, the U.S. has relied on foreign sources to supply and process the critical materials essential to our national and economic security."
The facility would have designed capacity to produce approximately 10,000 metric tonnes uranium per year as UF6, representing a substantial share of U.S. demand at 18,000 MtU per year. UEC has partnered with Fluor Corporation, a Fortune 500 engineering firm and longtime Department of Energy contractor, building on a year of engineering and design work already completed.
The project, according to UEC, aligns with President Trump's recent Executive Orders calling for a fourfold expansion of U.S. nuclear capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050 and reduced reliance on foreign uranium sources.
Homegrown Fuel
Wayne Heili, a Casper-based uranium industry expert, told Cowboy State Daily the announcement stands out as a significant development — and a potential boon for Wyoming.
"We've always talked about how to value add for the uranium industry, but conversion seemed so far out of reach, because you needed expertise and you needed somebody willing to do it," Heili said.
He noted that UEC's multi-state operations could benefit Wyoming regardless of the final location choice, because even if they chose Texas or another location, Wyoming would ultimately be involved as ore uranium concentrate from Wyoming mines moved on to be refined.
"Now that we're trying to keep Russia out of our markets, the Western world needs conversion and UEC is looking at building a new modern conversion facility. The only one we have in the United States is over 60 years old," he said, referring to the Metropolis, Illinois, facility owned by General Atomics and Honeywell.
"UEC seems to be building a U.S. version of Cameco," Heili observed, comparing the company's vertical integration strategy to Canada's dominant uranium producer.
However, Heili cautioned that the timeline remains lengthy. Even with potential fast-tracking, he estimates the process of site selection, licensing, and construction could take years to complete.
The existing facility in Illinois is located in the small city of Metropolis in southern Illinois. It’s called the Honeywell Uranium Hexafluoride Processing Facility, and the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan prompted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to shut down the plant in 2012 to mandate upgrades improving resilience to natural disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes.
The plant restarted after the required upgrades were completed in 2013.
It was temporarily idled from 2017 due to market oversupply, according to World Nuclear News, but restarted production in July 2023 and is ramping up towards its licensed capacity of about 7,000 tons of uranium as UF6 per year.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
