US announces $17.5B in loans for nuclear power supply chain

- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $17.5 billion in conditional loan guarantees to rebuild domestic nuclear fuel supply — including uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication, and reactor components. "Conditional" means final approval depends on meeting specific technical and financial milestones. - Russia supplies ~44% of the world's enriched uranium. The 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a 2024 law phasing out Russian uranium imports (by 2028) pushed the U.S. to urgently rebuild domestic capacity. China also looms as a competitor in reactor technology. - Beneficiaries include Centrus Energy (enrichment), X-energy and Kairos Power (next-generation "advanced" reactor designs), and utility partners. These are mostly unproven technologies at commercial scale. - This is the largest U.S. federal commitment to nuclear fuel supply ever — treating nuclear energy not just as a climate tool but as a national-security imperative. Critics point out that loan guarantees don't guarantee actual construction or commercial success.