First US uranium conversion plant in 70 years to fuel nuclear reactors

Texas-based startup FluxPoint Energy has announced plans to build the first new uranium conversion facility in the United States in over 70 years. The facility aims to address a critical gap in the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain by restoring the capability to convert uranium oxide into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a necessary step before uranium can be enriched for use in nuclear reactors. Currently, this conversion process is dominated by a few foreign providers, primarily in Russia and China, creating a bottleneck that limits the independence and security of the American nuclear energy sector. The planned plant will chemically transform solid uranium oxide into gaseous UF6 by reacting it with fluorine, enabling subsequent enrichment to increase uranium-235 concentration for reactor fuel. FluxPoint has secured a project site and completed market studies, with the goal of establishing a fully American, vertically integrated nuclear fuel capability to support energy independence, advanced reactor deployment, and national security. This development aligns with growing domestic demand for reliable nuclear fuel amid expanding energy needs from data