Uranium procurement: reconcile feed, SWU and fuel deliveries
Nuclear fuel procurement combines material and services that are reported in different units and can occur in different years. Buying uranium, sending feed to a supplier, purchasing enrichment services and loading fuel into a reactor are not interchangeable descriptions of one delivery. A commercial research ledger must preserve those distinctions before interpreting procurement coverage or supplier revenue.
This guide addresses contracts, delivery evidence and price-benchmark comparability. It does not estimate enrichment operating parameters or give production instructions. When the public record lacks the contractual conversion or material basis needed to connect two quantities, the appropriate output is an unresolved bridge rather than a technically invented ratio.
Start with three distinct commercial objects
The EIA Uranium Marketing Annual Report Table S2 separately presents uranium feed deliveries, purchased enrichment services and uranium loaded in fuel assemblies. Locate its column headings, units and source note identifying the EIA-858 survey. The juxtaposition is useful precisely because the columns measure different objects; it does not authorize adding them or treating one year’s observations as a closed manufacturing balance.
Create a material panel for uranium quantities using the reported commodity and unit. Create a service panel for purchased separative work units, or SWU. Create a fuel-delivery panel for assemblies or disclosed uranium content on the specified basis. A seller may provide a combination, but the research record should still show which rights, quantities and services the contract actually covers.
For each line, capture buyer, seller, contract identifier, commodity or service description, quantity unit, ownership point, delivery location, delivery year, pricing basis and evidence status. If a contract is redacted, retain the known commercial terms and identify the missing dependency. A press release describing a long relationship is not an executed delivery schedule.
Build an original cross-year procurement ledger
Consider a fictional utility, with all numbers invented. Its material panel starts Year 1 with 100 tonnes on one consistently defined uranium-material basis. It purchases and takes title to 80 tonnes, transfers 70 tonnes from its own warehouse to an external supplier’s custody, and has no other movements. Assume the transfer does not itself transfer ownership.
| Material position | Tonnes on the assumed basis |
|---|---|
| Opening utility warehouse | 100 |
| Purchases received there | +80 |
| Sent to external custody | −70 |
| Closing utility warehouse | 110 |
| Utility-owned material held externally | 70 |
| Total utility-owned material before later processing | 180 |
The 110-tonne warehouse figure is correct for that location. It is not the total owned-material balance. Calling the 70-tonne custody movement consumption would understate the assumed ownership total. Conversely, keeping the 70 tonnes in the warehouse row while also adding it to external custody would double count physical location.
Now add an independent service contract for 500,000 SWU at an assumed fixed 100 currency units per SWU, giving a nominal contract value of 50 million. Of that quantity, 300,000 SWU is scheduled for Year 1 and 200,000 for Year 2. Assume the contract provides no cancellation option or additional charges for this example.
The scheduled values are 30 million and 20 million, respectively. Those are commercial schedule values, not automatically cash paid or accounting revenue. A deposit, acceptance requirement or bundled supply arrangement can change payment and recognition timing. Record actual invoices, contractual performance evidence and payments in separate columns rather than importing an accounting conclusion into this procurement exercise.
Finally assume a fuel-delivery record lists 40 assemblies accepted during Year 1. Without compatible content and contract evidence, the ledger cannot convert those assemblies into a deduction from the 180 tonnes or identify them as the output of the 300,000 scheduled SWU. They might relate to earlier orders. Mark the connection unresolved and request the specific delivery documentation.
This incomplete-looking ledger is more informative than a falsely balanced one. Each subtotal has an identifiable object. The unknown link tells the next researcher what evidence could reconcile the material, service and fuel panels.
Reconcile a delivery claim step by step
First, distinguish a signed commitment from the amount actually delivered. Preserve minimum, maximum and optional quantities where disclosed. If the contract permits a buyer to vary a future delivery, report that range instead of announcing a single guaranteed supplier sale.
Second, identify the evidence of performance. A shipment notice, receipt at a named facility, transfer of title, acceptance certificate and invoice can have different dates. The relevant milestone depends on the commercial question. A supplier’s annual order-book statement does not independently prove that a utility accepted the corresponding fuel this quarter.
Third, map ownership and custody. An external processor may physically hold material owned by the utility. Alternatively, a contract may require delivery of a finished product with no utility ownership of the seller’s earlier material. Do not assume either arrangement from the supplier’s business description.
Fourth, reconcile the period and unit before comparing the company with the EIA table. The survey covers its stated population of owners and operators of U.S. civilian reactors. A global supplier’s sales, inventory and commitments can cover a different customer population and geography. A company fiscal year also may differ from the calendar-year survey.
Test a benchmark-price counterexample
Suppose one fictional buyer receives 100,000 SWU under an older contract at 80 currency units, while another receives 50,000 SWU at 140. The quantity-weighted delivered average is (100,000 × 80 + 50,000 × 140) / 150,000 = 100 per SWU. It does not establish that either buyer can sign a new contract at 100.
Now suppose the next year’s mix reverses: 50,000 units arrive at 80 and 100,000 at 140. The average becomes 120, even though neither contractual rate changed. The 20% rise is a contract-and-delivery-mix effect in this example, not evidence that every contract repriced by 20%.
Therefore distinguish a delivered weighted average, a new-contract price, a spot indication and a company-specific realized price. The EIA average is evidence about the surveyed purchases on its published basis. It is not a live quote, a supplier’s margin or a replacement for a redacted price schedule. Keep currency, included services and delivery years compatible before making a numerical comparison.
Handle missing and conflicting commercial evidence
| Question | Preferred input | If the input is missing |
|---|---|---|
| What is being purchased? | Executed description and unit | Keep material and service panels separate |
| When does it transfer? | Title and acceptance terms | Preserve shipment and receipt as distinct events |
| How much is committed? | Firm and optional schedule | Show minimum/maximum or unresolved quantity |
| What was performed? | Receipt, acceptance and service records | Do not promote order book to delivery |
| Which price is comparable? | Rate, currency and inclusions | Use a labeled benchmark without substituting it |
If a press release and an annual report show different totals, check whether one includes options, multiple delivery years or material supplied by the customer. Preserve both versions until the distinction is documented. Do not divide a total contract value by one conveniently available quantity when the value covers several products or services.
Update the ledger after a delivery reschedule, option exercise, new acceptance record, title transfer, contract amendment or survey revision. Write the exact commercial conclusion supported: for example, the Year 2 service commitment is evidenced but assembly acceptance is not yet linked. That is a useful procurement judgment without making an unsupported claim about physical conversion, assured revenue or future commodity prices.
Keep optional volume and payment evidence distinct
Consider a separate hypothetical material contract with a minimum annual quantity of eighty units and a maximum of one hundred. Sixty have been accepted. Remaining contractual quantity is twenty to forty, subject to the actual option terms; it is not sixty plus another forty of guaranteed demand. Record the party controlling the option and the decision deadline.
Likewise, a ten-million deposit against the earlier fifty-million service schedule does not prove that ten-million of service has already been delivered. Keep committed value, invoiced performance and paid cash as three columns. A delivery reschedule can move the performance date while leaving a payment unchanged. The worksheet should flag that divergence for accounting review, without itself prescribing recognition or assuming that the deposit represents unrestricted supplier profit.
For a bundled quote, ask whether the stated value includes material, services, logistics or separately priced options. A total value divided by SWU alone is not a clean enrichment-service rate if those other items are included. Preserve the bundle until an evidenced allocation exists.
FAQ
Can SWU be added to tonnes of uranium?
No. One is a service measure and the other is a material quantity. They belong in separate panels.
Does a higher delivered average price prove current spot prices rose?
No. Delivery mix and earlier contract terms can change the average without repricing either contract.