Four U.S. states produce all of the domestic uranium concentrate at seven facilities in the nation.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), uranium concentrate in 2013 was produced at seven facilities in Wyoming (59 percent), Utah (22 percent), Nebraska (15 percent) and Texas (4 percent). The World Nuclear Association provided the numbers.
Last year, U.S. processing facilities produced 4.7 million pounds of uranium concentrate, a 12 percent increase from 2012 and equal to about 11 percent of the uranium used by the nation’s 100 operating reactors, EIA said. The remaining uranium came from other nations, including the uranium received through the U.S. and Russia’s Megatons to Megawatts program, which ended last year.
Uranium is processed into uranium concentrate either by grinding up ore or by using a liquid mixture to dissolve and separate the uranium, a process known as in-situ leaching. Most plants are in-situ leaching, while Utah’s facility is the only exception.
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