Nucleon Fuel, a subsidiary of Canadian small modular reactor developer Nucleon Energy, has applied for a 20 million dollar grant and a possible 10 million dollar loan to build a uranium conversion facility near Gillette, Wyoming. Both would come from Wyoming's Energy Dominance Fund, created to advance projects in oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy in the state.
The application has passed an initial committee review and is in a 30-day public comment period that ends November 16. Nucleon Fuel will host an open house in Gillette on October 28. The Wyoming Energy Authority reviews applications three times a year, with deadlines on March 1, July 1 and November 1. Grant recipients must match the award with other investment, and Nucleon Fuel reports it has secured 20 million dollars in private investment to meet that requirement. The fund is capped at 105 million dollars.
The facility, called the Fort Union Uranium Conversion Facility in the application, would use the company's SMR-5000 modular system. Each module could produce 5,000 metric tons of uranium hexafluoride a year using a wet process in which uranium oxide dissolves in nitric acid. The company plans three modules, for 15,000 metric tons annually. Solstice Advanced Materials' Metropolis Works in Illinois, the only operating U.S. conversion plant, is pursuing a 10,000-metric-ton target for 2026.
Nucleon Fuel sent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a letter of intent in April and is targeting construction in 2030 or 2031. In Campbell County, commissioners approved a one-year agreement with BWX Technologies on October 21 for environmental studies at Pronghorn Industrial Park near Gillette, for a proposed TRISO fuel fabrication facility.
Source: ANS Nuclear Newswire - https://www.ans.org/news/2026-10-26/article-8517/nucleon-fuel-seeks-20m-grant-for-wyo-conversion-facility/