US administration issued a series of executive orders aimed at "reinvigorating the nuclear industrial base":
- Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base (Fact sheet)
- Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy (Fact sheet)
- Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Fact sheet)
- Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security (Fact sheet)
The executive orders contain a number of provisions regarding the production and management of fissile materials.
In particular, the "Reinvigorate" order directs the Department of Energy to explore ways to "maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of nuclear fuel through recycling, reprocessing, and reinvigorating the commercial sector." It also directs the government to provide a report that would evaluate of the reprocessing and recycling of spent nuclear fuel from DoD and DoE reactors. The report must also envision a possibility of transferring spent fuel to some "government-owned, privately operated reprocessing and recycling facility."
The "Reinvigorate" order terminated the surplus plutonium dilute and dispose program and establish instead "a program to dispose of surplus plutonium by processing and making it available to industry" for fuel in advanced reactors. The exception is made for the DoE's obligations to South Carolina, which calls for the removal of about 9.5 tonnes of plutonium from the Savannah River Site facility there. In 2016, the US Government approved the elimination of 6 MT of this material via the dilute and dispose route. The first shipment of this material was delivered to WIPP in December 2022. It appears that plutonium could also be removed from South Carolina via other disposition paths.
Regarding uranium enrichment, the executive order calls for the development of "a plan to expand domestic uranium conversion capacity and expand enrichment capabilities sufficient to meet projected civilian and defense reactor needs for low enriched uranium (LEU), high enriched uranium (HEU) and high assay, low enriched uranium (HALEU)." This requirement is largely in line with the policy of the Biden administration that supported the expansion of the domestic enrichment capacity and HALEU production in particular.