# 17 - Elmer Dyke: Fuel, the Key to a Robust Nuclear Industry

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/advanced-nuclear-the-official-podcast-of-ucan-power-7246578/17-elmer-dyke-fuel-the-key-to-a-robust-nuclear-industry.md
Podcast: [Advanced Nuclear, the Official Podcast of UCAN Power](https://stenobird.com/podcast/advanced-nuclear-the-official-podcast-of-ucan-power-7246578)
Published: 2025-08-11T04:00:56+00:00
Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/ucanpowerorgpodcast/2157397
Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/320141/2157397/ucanpowerorgpodcast/2025_08_08_14_21_33_e8c0ee05-0210-4d99-92b7-72b59067923f.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3379

## Resource

Internationally-recognized nuclear fuels expert Elmer Dyke joins UCAN Power's Advanced Nuclear podcast to discuss the state of the fuel industry. Elmer provides an in-depth overview of all segments of the nuclear fuel supply chain -- mining, conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication -- and provides critical insights about recent fuel cycle developments and the challenges faced by the industry. He analyzes the impact of the ban on Russian uranium imports, discusses the new enrichment capacity being brought to the market, and describes the new fuel forms and enrichment levels that will be needed to support the growing set of Generation IV reactor vendors. Without fuel, there is no nuclear industry, and this is an important and impactful discussion about this critical topic. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle 01:26 Current State of the Nuclear Fuel Industry 04:15 Uranium Mining in the U.S. 07:54 The Conversion Process and Its Challenges 14:58 Enrichment: The Key to Reactor Fuel 17:20 Impact of Russian Supply on the Market 27:08 Fuel Fabrication and Its Role in the Cycle 29:30 Transitioning to New Fuel Sources 34:07 The Future of Enrichment Technologies 37:13 Understanding Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) and HALU 46:34 Challenges and Opportunities in Advanced Reactor Deployment 48:54 The Nuclear Fuel Industry's Capacity for Expansion 57:01 The Future Landscape of Nuclear Fuels by 2030

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