Nano Nuclear to make uranium dioxide fuel in Idaho

The new nuclear technology firm Nano Nuclear Energy is planning to build a nuclear fuel fabrication facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The US does not currently have any domestic nuclear fuel production for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), nuclear fuel that is up to 19.75% in ²³⁵U, according to Nano’s chairman, Jay Jiang Yu. HALEU fuel powers reactors used by the military and some next-generation civilian power plant designs.. INL is a US government lab operated by Battelle and is currently the main site for nuclear power research in the US. Though details are still being worked out, Nano will perform a chemical conversion—UF₆(g) + H₂(g) + 2H₂O(g) → UO₂(s) + 6HF(g)—on already-enriched precursor uranium and process the result into final fuel for existing and experimental reactors.