Today, we are witnessing what happens when an adversary nation has a near monopoly position into essential raw materials.
China produces over 90% of the world’s rare earth magnets. It mines and refines about 70% of the world’s rare earth minerals. It is using its economic stranglehold over these essential inputs into America’s domestic production of defense systems, vehicles, and other industrial products to extract concessions from the United States in the ongoing trade war.
Domestic and international vehicle plants are on the verge of shutting down because of an insufficient supply of rare earth magnets, which are necessary components for vehicle electrical systems. The situation is so dire that U.S. auto manufacturers are considering shifting production of braking systems and other parts of today’s cars and light trucks to China to have access to rare earth magnets. What makes the situation so intolerable is that the U.S. could easily be self-sufficient in rare earth minerals and magnets.
The U.S. faces a similar challenge with uranium, the mineral that powers the domestic nuclear power industry. The U.S. is totally dependent on other countries for all stages of manufacturing the uranium pellet rods that fuel the country’s nuclear power plants. The U.S. is the world’s largest importer of enriched uranium.
The U.S. is also the world’s leading producer of nuclear power. This energy source is responsible for 18% of the country’s electricity. Demand for nuclear power is rising rapidly because of the green energy movement and the artificial intelligence revolution. AI could dramatically increase national productivity and output, which would go a long way to stabilizing the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio. It is essential that the U.S. has the electricity necessary to power the AI revolution, but AI consumes vast amounts of electricity. Natural gas and nuclear power will provide the electricity necessary for AI, and the U.S. is completely self-sufficient in the natural gas industry.
However, the U.S. is vulnerable to supply chain disruptions for nuclear power. The country relies on imports of uranium from unfriendly countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia, an enemy of the U.S. and our closest allies, from the United Kingdom to Japan. The U.S. is also dependent on the overseas supply of “milled” uranium, also known as “yellowcake.”
After uranium is milled into yellowcake, it is converted into a gas, a necessary part of the uranium enrichment process. After conversion into a gaseous form, uranium is enriched and then fabricated into nuclear fuel pellet rods, which power nuclear plants. The U.S. is almost completely dependent on overseas suppliers for all parts of the converting and enriching process, giving overseas countries leverage against the U.S.
This is not acceptable.
After World War II, because of the Cold War with Russia, the U.S. was self-sufficient in all stages of the nuclear power industry. The U.S. strategy of mutually assured destruction with nuclear weapons mandated that the U.S. have the capacity to produce both nuclear weapons and nuclear fuels for its power plants. But at the end of the Cold War, successive administrations allowed the domestic nuclear power industry to atrophy. The U.S. must immediately begin a crash program to rebuild the entire supply chain for the capacity to fabricate nuclear power rods domestically.
At the right price, the U.S. is completely self-sufficient in uranium. The U.S. has vast quantities of uranium in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The federal government should guarantee prices for the profitable mining of uranium. This is a matter of national security.
EASIER SOLUTIONS TO RESOLVE THE FEDERAL DEBT CRISIS
It is especially important that the U.S. be able to enrich uranium for the 54 nuclear power plants that supply 18% of domestic electricity. The state of the uranium enrichment and fabrication process is a national disgrace.
Successive administrations and Congresses have appropriated money for political boondoggles such as bridges to nowhere and failed green energy projects. But they have failed to secure the nuclear power supply chain. This must change — time is of the essence.