U.S. Nuclear Programs Get Support as Russia Holds Ukraine Plants

A top Energy Department nuclear official pledged Thursday to accelerate aid for current and future U.S. nuclear reactors with global uranium and enriched fuel supplies under threat, while expressing concern for Ukrainian plants currently under Russian control.

“We need to build out capacity for a Western alternative for the Russian component of the uranium market, including conversion and enrichment capacity,” Kathryn Huff, a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “There is no question in my mind that we will continue to focus on uranium as an incredibly important fuel.”

Huff was ...