U.S. uranium production in 2024 was highest in six years

Companies in the United States produced more uranium concentrate in 2024 than in any year since 2018 after a sustained period of higher uranium prices spurred production, according to our recently published Domestic Uranium Production Report—Quarterly. The increase largely came from two in-situ recovery facilities, one in Texas and one in Wyoming, and the resumption of uranium production at White Mesa Mill in Utah, the only operational uranium mill in the United States. Production in the fourth quarter of 2024 alone was higher than the total annual production for each of the years in 2019–23.

Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill in Utah can produce uranium, rare earth and other minerals, and vanadium, which is used in steelmaking among other purposes. The company’s most recent annual financial disclosure documents report it expects to continue focusing on uranium in 2025.

Uranium concentrate has commercial uses as the fuel for civilian nuclear reactors and in medical applications. Uranium concentrate must be processed in conversion and enrichment facilities before being fabricated in fuel rods or pellets at fuel fabrication plants. These fuel rods or pellets can then be loaded into civilian nuclear reactors.

We publish estimates on the production of domestic uranium in the Domestic Uranium Production Report—Quarterly, along with the status of uranium mills, heap leach facilities, and in-situ recovery plants.

Principal contributors: Tim Shear, M. Tyson Brown