US, EU bodies report on nuclear fuel market situation

Owners and operators of US civilian nuclear power reactors purchased a total of 46.9 million pounds U3O8e (18,040 tU) of deliveries from US and foreign suppliers during 2025, 16% less than the 55.9 million pounds purchased in 2024, according to the latest edition of the US Energy Information Administration's Uranium Marketing Annual Report. (The unit used in the report, U3O8e, stands for U3O8 equivalent, representing uranium concentrate (U3O8) and the equivalent uranium component of uranium hexafluoride and enriched uranium).

Canada remained the top source of US deliveries (32%), followed closely by Kazakhstan (28%) and Australia (15%), with material from Uzbekistan accounting for 7% of total deliveries, and Namibia 4% of total deliveries. Uranium was also imported from Malawi and Niger. US material accounted for 7% of total deliveries in 2025, down from 8% in 2024. Although Russian-origin material accounted for 2,301 million pounds U3O8 of 2024 deliveries, data on any deliveries of Russian-origin material in 2025 has been withheld to avoid disclosure of individual company data. Several other countries are also marked as "withheld" in the publication. 

The year saw 32 million pounds U3O8e of natural uranium feed delivered on behalf of US nuclear power plant owners and operators to uranium enrichers at home and overseas, of which 37% went to domestic enrichers with the remaining 63% going to enrichment suppliers in France (5.5 million pounds U3O8e) and Russia (2.4 million pounds U3O8e).

The Energy Information Administration is a statistical and analytical agency within the US Department of Energy.

EU continues to diversify supply

Canada and Kazakhstan were also the top suppliers to the EU in 2025, according to the Euratom Supply Agency's 2025 annual report which was released in early July. Four countries provided over 83% of all deliveries to the EU and six countries provided over 98% of all-natural uranium supplied to the bloc. Unlike the US report, however, Russian deliveries played a significant part, with 2,346 tU of Russian-origin deliveries accounting for 15.98% of the total.

All of the EU's demand for fresh uranium is covered by imports from countries outside the bloc, and is therefore subject to geopolitical developments and related trade policy implications, the report notes. The Agency has a central role in ensuring the supply of nuclear materials for all EU users. 

"One key area of attention is diversification," the Agency's Director General Michael Hübel said in his foreword to the report. "Addressing the remaining dependencies from Russia - in line with the Commission's Roadmap towards ending Russian energy imports - is a key priority in this respect. But the task is more challenging - as nuclear demand grows in Europe there needs to be emphasis on a safe and secure supply chain, enabling nuclear energy to play its role as homegrown energy to the full."

In May 2025 the European Commission published the REPowerEU roadmap to end EU dependency on Russian energy by stopping the import of Russian gas and oil and phasing out Russian nuclear energy. This includes diversifying the source of supply of nuclear fuel for Russian-designed VVER reactors, which operate in several EU countries.

According to the Agency, "significant progress" was made during the year in this respect. "By the end of 2025, all EU operators of VVER reactors had secured alternative fuel supply contracts from non-Russian suppliers, strengthening long-term security of supply," the report says.