How AI’s Need For Nuclear Energy Is Fueling A Rise In U.S. Uranium Mining

Uranium is primarily used as a fuel for nuclear reactors. Once a leading producer of uranium in the world, U.S. production of the mineral has fallen off a cliff, but that’s changing.

Artificial intelligence models being worked on by the likes of Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta require massive amounts of energy, and nuclear power has emerged as the top contender to fuel them. The industry is also getting a boost from the Trump administration, which announced plans to quadruple the nation’s nuclear energy capacity from 100 GW in 2024 to 400 GW by 2050. With this build out, U.S. uranium requirements are expected to increase from 47 million pounds to approximately 190 million pounds per year according to one uranium miner. CNBC spoke to two uranium miners operating mines in Arizona, Utah and Wyoming about how they are working to restart and ramp up domestic production of the mineral and the challenges they face in doing so.

Chapters:
00:00-02:11 Introduction
02:12-05:03 Foreign dependency
05:04-09:23 Reviving domestic supply
09:24-12:45 Challenges in meeting demand

Produced and edited by: Magdalena Petrova
Camera: Lucas Mullikin
Animation: Jason Reginato, Mallory Brangan
Senior Director of Video: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional Footage: Getty Images, Energy Fuels, Ur-Energy