Raising uranium production at the pace required by existing reactors and the next generation of plants is achievable. That was the view shared by the five speakers on the panel “Supplying Uranium for the Next Generation of Nuclear Power,” held on October 21 in Houston, Texas, during the Nuclear Energy Institute’s International Uranium Fuel Seminar (IUFS) 2026.
The session was moderated by Treva Klingbiel, president of TradeTech, a company that publishes market analysis on uranium and the nuclear fuel cycle. Seated at the table were Scott Melbye of Uranium Energy Corp, Damir Sagimbayev of Kazatomprom, Olga Skorlyakova of Bannerman Energy, David Kemp and Canon Bryan. The official session program covered new production, utility contracting and the role of mining in long-term supply security.
The question Klingbiel put to the panelists was direct: what has to change now for uranium supply to grow in pace, scale and reliability in line with the current reactor fleet and the coming wave of new plants? The discussion touched on the geographic diversification of sources, geopolitical risk and the energy policy choices that affect supply stability. Another issue was contracting: are the terms in use today enough to finance or restart mines at a scale suited to the market?
The closing consensus identified four conditions for reliable production growth: credible demand signals, commercial terms that investors can finance, disciplined project execution and policy support that lasts over time. These requirements speak above all to utilities, which are being asked to sign long-term contracts, and to producers, which must deliver projects on schedule.
The backdrop is a market looking ahead to incoming demand. In her remarks in March at PDAC in Toronto, Klingbiel had already pointed to growing demand linked to SMRs and to advanced technologies serving artificial intelligence and industrial applications. Fuel was a thread running through the entire Houston seminar, with sessions also devoted to the supply chain for advanced reactors and to the procurement strategies of utilities and SMR developers.
For Italy, which is reopening the nuclear file with an eye on next-generation reactors, the message concerns the upstream supply chain: future plants will need uranium and contracts put in place well in advance. If demand signals become concrete, producers will have the foundations to finance new mines and restart idled ones.
