U.S. nuclear plant operators paid a weighted-average price of 58.46 dollars per pound for uranium in 2025, an 11 percent increase over the prior year's 52.71 dollars, according to the Energy Information Administration's newly released Uranium Marketing Annual Report. The higher prices came even as total purchases fell, with reactor owners acquiring 46.9 million pounds of uranium oxide equivalent last year, down 16 percent from 55.9 million pounds in 2024.

The pricing data reveals a widening gap between spot and long-term contracts. Only 13 percent of deliveries moved through the spot market, where prices averaged 76.01 dollars per pound, while the remaining 87 percent moved under long-term agreements averaging 55.91 dollars per pound, a difference of just over 20 dollars per pound between the two purchasing methods. That gap suggests utilities that locked in multi-year supply contracts are shielding themselves from some of the volatility now showing up in spot uranium prices.

Enrichment costs rose in tandem with raw uranium prices. Operators paid an average of 108.70 dollars per separative work unit for enrichment services in 2025, up 11 percent from 97.66 dollars the year before. Enrichment facilities took in 32 million pounds of natural uranium feed for processing, with domestic suppliers handling 37 percent of that feed and foreign suppliers providing the remaining 63 percent.

The combination of rising fuel and enrichment costs comes as the federal government pushes to expand domestic uranium enrichment capacity and reduce reliance on foreign supply, a dependence the EIA data shows remains substantial even as new investment flows into U.S. enrichment projects.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration -- https://www.eia.gov/uranium/marketing/pdf/umar.pdf