Owners and operators of US civilian nuclear power reactors purchased 46.9 million pounds of uranium equivalent during 2025 at a weighted average price of $58.46 per pound, according to Energy Information Administration data. That price ran 11 percent above the $52.71 per pound weighted average recorded in 2024, while the volume purchased fell 16 percent from 55.9 million pounds.

Enrichment costs moved in the same direction. Reactor operators paid an average of $108.70 per separative work unit for enrichment services in 2025, up 11 percent from $97.66 the prior year. A separative work unit measures the effort required to raise the concentration of uranium 235 in reactor fuel, and the price of that service now sits alongside raw concentrate as a driver of delivered fuel cost.

Origin data shows how thin the domestic share remains. Canada supplied 32 percent of the uranium delivered to US reactors in 2025, Kazakhstan supplied 28 percent and Australia supplied 15 percent. Material of US origin accounted for 7 percent of deliveries, down from 8 percent a year earlier.

Higher unit prices paired with a supply base concentrated outside the country form the backdrop for the enrichment and conversion projects now moving through permitting in New Mexico, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Fuel accounts for a small share of the total cost of running an existing reactor, so price moves of this size register slowly in generating costs and show up first in long term contract negotiations.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration - https://www.eia.gov/nuclear/