Cover Story Breakbulk & Project Cargo
US policy, investments line up for project cargo-dependent nuclear buildout
By Autumn Cafiero Giusti
Energy Fuels
After decades of relative dormancy, the US nuclear industry is in comeback mode, as the country looks to develop large-scale, low-carbon energy sources to feed powerhungry technologies like AI and the energy-intensive production of smartphone microchips.
That development could significantly power up breakbulk and project cargo activity over the next decade.
To support the varying stages of the nuclear fuel cycle, policy changes and investments are lining up for the US to execute an extensive buildout or new and redeveloped power plants, reactors, mines and enrichment facilities.
The second Trump administration has shifted national energy policy to prioritize fossil fuels over renewable energy sources. But that shift has also included a heavy focus on nuclear. After declaring a national energy emergency upon taking office, Trump issued a flurry of executive orders in May targeted at reinvigorating the US nuclear energy industry and its supply chain. The orders called for quadrupling domestic nuclear capacity to 400 gigawatts( GW) by 2050 and having 10 large reactors under construction in the US by 2030.
Jack Britt, senior director of fuel and radiation safety at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, DC, told the Journal of Commerce that the US push to rebuild its nuclear fuel supply chain has renewed investments in domestic uranium production, conversion and enrichment.“ These efforts require major infrastructure,” Britt said. He cited active projects, including the restart of Honeywell’ s Metropolis Works conversion facility in Illinois and expanded enrichment activity at the American Centrifuge Plant in Ohio, where Centrus Energy has begun producing high-assay, low-enriched uranium( HALEU) for advanced reactors.
“ That investment is likely to drive increased activity across the supply chain, including manufacturing, shipping and other services that support nuclear development and deployment,” Britt said.
Jack Britt Senior Director of Fuel and Radiation Safety, Nuclear Energy Institute
Kim Casey Investor Relations Manager, Energy Fuels
Recharging the US nuclear industry has received broad bipartisan support as a means to generate massive amounts of power consistently, and with little to no carbon emissions. Kim Casey, investor relations manager for US uranium provider Energy Fuels, told the Journal of Commerce that those advantages— along with the rapidly growing energy demands of expansive AI data centers and chip-powered modern technologies— are positioning nuclear as an attractive energy option.
“ There’ s excitement that nuclear energy is going to fill a gap, because everybody wants to use their phones,” she said.“ Everybody wants their data, and they want it now.”
Project potential
The US nuclear industry is coming full circle for global nuclear and radioactive transport provider Edlow International. President Jack Edlow told the Journal of Commerce that when he entered the industry over 50 years ago, most of the world’ s uranium was produced, enriched and converted into nuclear fuel in the US.
“ These efforts require major infrastructure. That investment is likely to drive increased activity across the supply chain.”
“ Now, it’ s pretty much the opposite,” he said.“ This gives us an opportunity to reconstitute our industry and go back into the world market with US uranium conversion, enrichment and reactor designs, and I’ m hopeful that’ s what’ s going to happen over the next five to 10 years.”
Edlow said a significant opportunity for breakbulk and project cargo will come from the development of facilities to enrich processed uranium so it can become fuel for power plants. Nearly all of the enriched uranium the US uses is imported, and Urenco USA’ s centrifuge enrichment plant in New Mexico is the only commercially operating enrichment plant in the US.
“ New enrichment plants will be big for cargo,” Edlow said.“ Those are huge components weighing hundreds of tons each that will come in.”
A handful of projects are in the works and could cost $ 5 billion to $ 8 billion, depending on their size, Edlow said.“ They will require a lot of equipment and time to build,” he said.“ You’ re probably looking at four years or more to get large-scale capacity. www. joc. com September 2025 | Journal of Commerce 7