In the second of a two-part special report from the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle 2025 conference held in Canada, Claire Maden reports on the opportunities and challenges facing players across the entire fuel sector.

General Matter says it will use a novel, scalable, cost-competitive technology to address a "commercial bottleneck" in the US nuclear fuel cycle and will be shipping enriched uranium by the end of the decade.

BWX Technologies, Inc has acquired 97 acres of land in Oak Ridge with plans to establish advanced centrifuge manufacturing capability that "will support the establishment of a reliable, long-term domestic supply of enriched uranium, an essential component for the nation’s defence".

The US Department of Energy has made conditional commitments to five advanced reactor developers to receive the first allocations of high-assay low-enriched uranium from its HALEU Availability Program.

The nuclear fuel cycle is the series of industrial processes that turns uranium into electricity. Claire Maden takes a look at the steps that make up the cycle, the major players and the potential pinch-points.

Uranium enrichment services provider Urenco has selected British construction engineering company Costain to deliver new and upgraded infrastructure at its site in Capenhurst, Cheshire, in northwest England.

Westinghouse and Urenco have signed a long-term fuel enrichment agreement under which Urenco will provide enrichment of high-assay low-enriched uranium to Westinghouse for five years of deployment for the company's eVinci microreactor.

Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil has signed a contract with Russia's Internexco for the temporary export for conversion and enrichment of 275,000 kilograms of uranium concentrate (U3O8) produced at the Uranium Concentration Unit in Caetité, Bahia.

The European Investment Bank and Orano have signed a loan agreement for EUR400 million (USD434 million) to partly fund the project to extend the Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant in Tricastin in southern France. The project will increase the plant's capacity by more than 30%.