The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
By striking "non-fuel" from US critical minerals definition, bill aims to make uranium eligible to be put back on critical list Metal Tech News - July 6, 2022
Due to the exclusion of non-fuel minerals, uranium is nowhere to be found on the list of 50 minerals considered critical to the economic wellbeing and national security of the United States.
The U.S. Geological Survey has identified 50 minerals and metals critical to the economic wellbeing and security of the United States, uranium is not one of them. This omission of a mineral that plays a critical role in America's energy security does not sit well with a bipartisan group of congressmen that have introduced legislation to rectify this oversight.
"Energy security is national security. We should not be reliant on our foreign adversaries like China and Russia to power our daily life," said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas.
In 2017, the USGS was charged with identifying which minerals and metals are critical to the U.S. Its original list of 35 critical minerals, which was finalized in 2018, included uranium. However, an updated and expanded list of 50 critical minerals published earlier this year omitted this fuel for zero-carbon nuclear energy.
Further details on the 2022 critical minerals list can be read at And then there were 50 critical minerals in the November 10, 2021 edition of Metal Tech News and USGS finalizes 2022 critical minerals list in the February 23, 2022 edition of Metal Tech News.
Striking uranium from the list had less to do with the mineral's criticality than semantics.
Under the Energy Act of 2020, a "critical mineral" is defined as a non-fuel mineral or mineral material essential to the economic or national security of the U.S., as well as the supply chain, which is vulnerable to disruption. Critical minerals are also characterized as serving an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for economic or national security.
"Uranium was not evaluated because the Energy Act of 2020 explicitly excluded 'fuel minerals' from the definition of a 'critical mineral,'" the USGS explained in a FAQ sheet associated with the list of critical minerals.
While grammatically accurate, there are those that believe that, given our heavy dependence on adversarial nations for this mineral vital to the U.S. military and zero-carbon energy, uranium should be ranked high on the list of critical minerals.
"Our uranium import dependence is a case study in how our vital domestic minerals supply chains have atrophied to levels that result in a dire national security risk. We are home to the world's largest nuclear navy and fleet of nuclear power plants, significant uranium reserves, and yet we import virtually all of the uranium we use – half of which comes from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan," said National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan. "We must immediately address this glaring vulnerability and source the uranium on which nuclear power functions domestically to prevent this key energy source from being weaponized against our economy."
With uranium meeting all the other critical minerals criteria, striking "non-fuel" from the definition would make this nuclear fuel eligible to be put back on the list.
The "Critical Minerals Classification Improvement Act" introduced by Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse, R-Washington and Congressman Pfluger, and supported by Texas Democrat congressmen Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, would update the 2020 critical mineral definition to omit the single word that is keeping uranium off the list. If passed into law, this simple two-page bill would also require the USGS to reevaluate the criticality of uranium and other non-fuel minerals for inclusion on an updated list.
"Expanding the definition of critical minerals to include both fuel and non-fuel sources is necessary to expand our energy independence, increase our national security and strengthen the struggling supply chain," said Ruth Demeter, senior director of policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Institute. "This legislation corrects a missed opportunity for the federal government to analyze our foreign dependence on materials such as uranium from major exporters such as Russia."
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
Reader Comments(0)