The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Supply Bottlenecks, Market Dynamics & Investment Signals The nuclear fuel cycle forms the backbone of nuclear power—encompassing uranium mining, enrichment, fuel fabrication, reactor operation, and spent fuel management. As global energy priorities shift toward low-carbon solutions, nuclear energy is resurging, bringing renewed investor focus on upstream constraints and long-term fuel economics. At the core lies uranium , a commodity with production dominated by a few countries—Kazakhstan alone accounts for 40%. Most uranium is extracted through cost-efficient in-situ recovery, but capacity expansion is slow, and geopolitical concentration introduces serious supply chain risk. Yet uranium mining is only one part of the equation. The conversion of U3O8 into UF6, enrichment (especially for HALEU used in SMRs), and fuel fabrication each face structural bottlenecks. The supply base is narrow, regulatory burdens are high, and technological capacity—particularly for advanced fuels ...