An-Nahar puts the US uranium push down to AI's power demand; Der Standard says it is also about ending reliance on Russia

What happened. The United States is pressing suppliers to speed up building uranium enrichment capacity. Two unnamed Energy Department officials told Reuters this, as carried by An-Nahar. Der Standard's headline says the same. Nothing shows Der Standard had a separate source, so this is one account, not two.

The one named voice. Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly spoke to Reuters at a nuclear energy conference in Paris, run by the US and the OECD together. He said: "Our aim is to remove as many obstacles and restrictions as possible, as quickly as possible." He added: "We want as much domestic production capacity as possible."

The price. Uranium costs have risen almost threefold in five years, the consultancy UxC said, according to An-Nahar. No other report we hold gives a price.

Two reasons, one per report.

The two accounts do not contradict each other. Neither says who gave its reason.

What is not settled. - Which suppliers are being pressed, and how. Neither report names one. - Whether US officials themselves cited Russia. Only Der Standard raises it, and it names no source. - What the price rise means for power bills. Neither report says.

What this is about. The US government wants more of the fuel for nuclear power stations made at home. It is pushing the companies that make that fuel to build faster.

What enrichment is. Most reactors cannot run on natural uranium as it is mined. It has to be enriched: the share of one uranium isotope is raised. Fuel for ordinary large reactors is enriched to a level below what nuclear weapons need, An-Nahar notes. Only a handful of companies and states in the world do this work. That makes enrichment the narrowest point in the fuel supply chain.

How it got here. For decades the US bought much of its enriched uranium from Russia, largely through the state nuclear company Rosatom. Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 turned that into a political problem. Western governments sanctioned Russian oil, gas and banks, but nuclear fuel was harder to replace. In May 2024 the US passed a law banning imports of Russian enriched uranium. It allowed waivers for a few years while other supply is built. Russia answered in November 2024 with its own temporary limits on exports to the US.

At the same time, demand for electricity has grown. Data centres, including those that run AI, are a large part of that. Governments and technology companies have turned back to nuclear power because it runs day and night without carbon emissions.

The actors. The US Energy Department sets fuel policy and funds new plants. The suppliers are the few enrichment companies able to expand. The OECD, a Paris-based club of mostly rich democracies, ran the conference where the US spoke together with the US.

What is at stake. Enough fuel lets planned reactors and restarts go ahead. Too little leaves the US either still buying from Russia or short of fuel, and keeps prices rising.

Where it stands. The US plans to restart three closed nuclear plants, An-Nahar reports. None is running yet.