US Fast-Tracking Uranium Mine Permit to Meet ‘Urgent Energy Demands’

The decision comes as America remains ‘dangerously reliant’ on imports to meet uranium demand.

Cylinders of uranium from the Russian cargo ship unloaded at the port of Dunkirk, northern France, on March 20, 2023. Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is expediting environmental permitting review of the Velvet-Wood mine in Utah amid a national energy emergency, the agency said in a May 12 statement.

“If approved, the Velvet-Wood mine project in San Juan County, Utah, would produce uranium and vanadium,” said the agency. Uranium is used as fuel in nuclear reactors and for the production of tritium, which is required for nuclear weapons, while vanadium is used in steel production and titanium aerospace alloys.