Global Nuclear Markets – Market Arrangements and Service Agreements

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis (EPSA) requested an assessment of global nuclear markets, including the structure of nuclear companies in different countries and the partnerships between reactor vendors and buyers. This report documents the findings of the first phase of the Global Nuclear Markets project, along with a description of the work performed. This includes findings on the countries and companies involved with trade in nuclear reactors and fuel services, market arrangements, and service agreements, in conversion, enrichment, reactor design, construction and operation, and used fuel storage and reprocessing, along with assessment of the trends in these areas. The work was conducted by collecting information of nuclear facilities and service providers, and performing an extensive open-sourced literature search to validate and update the information and to identify agreements and relationships between countries and companies. Chronological information was developed to assist in the identification of market trends. Analysis was then performed to assess overall market conditions and develop insights on developments with the major players. Extensive lists of existing and planned fuel cycle facilities and reactors under construction or planned were developed and general relationships between suppliers and customers identified. Specific relationship identification was limited due to a lack of publicly available information for a systematic assessment. The main sources of facility information were found to be slightly dated and not always in agreement, especially with respect to the status of planned reactor projects and the capacities of existing conversion and enrichment facilities. Efforts to validate data in these areas revealed the constantly changing nature of the information.