The U.S. is beginning to see signs of a uranium mining boom as the Trump administration pushes to revive a nuclear power sector it believes is vital to feed the grid and power-hungry data centers.
Most of the uranium used in U.S. nuclear power plants today is imported primarily from Kazakhstan, Canada, Uzbekistan, Australia, Namibia and Russia, with federal analysts warning that owners and operators of U.S. reactors face possible uranium shortages over the next decade. While Russia dominates the global market for the nuclear fuel, the U.S. banned imports of that company’s uranium in 2024, although there are allowances for limited waivers until 2028.
Trump administration officials have fast-tracked mine approvals, deemed uranium a critical mineral and last week hailed the federal approval of the Dewey-Burdock uranium project in South Dakota as a new source of “domestically produced uranium.”
“Increasing the domestic production of uranium is critical to national security and energy dominance, and will play a pivotal role in accelerating the deployment of nuclear energy to meet growing electricity demand,” Emily Domenech, executive director of Permitting Council, said in a statement.
But the new-found excitement for a nuclear heyday has done little to temper long-simmering environmental concerns tied to uranium mining in the drought-stricken West, from fears about water use and potential contamination to possible damage of tribal lands
“I think it’s climaxed to the point now where this administration is not looking at protection and conservation, water protection measures,” said Reno Red Cloud, the director of the Oglala Sioux Tribe Water Resources Department who’s fighting a uranium production project in South Dakota. “This is all ‘let’s get rich and make our money.’”
More domestic production
The U.S. is currently seeing an uptick in the domestic production of uranium concentrate in states like Utah and Wyoming, according to federal data.
Production tripled to more than 1 million pounds of uranium concentrate in the first quarter of 2026, three times the amount produced during the same time last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a quarterly report released last month.
Uranium concentrate or “yellow cake” is produced across six facilities in Wyoming, Texas and Utah. It’s mined in underground or open pits or extracted through in-situ projects. That material is then processed and refined and made into reactor fuel.
Jonathan Hinze, president of UxC, a nuclear industry market research company, said there’s been an increase in domestic uranium production since 2024, mostly through in-situ recovery (ISR). That method involves injecting a solution underground through a series of wells into ore bodies to dissolve uranium and then pumping it to the surface for processing.
But market conditions — not administration policies — boosted production, he noted, and the U.S. still relies on imports. “There has been an increase in production, but it’s nominal … the U.S. is usually 1 or 2 percent of the global production,” said Hinze.
What projects are advancing continue to face legal and regulatory hurdles and local pushback.
In Utah, federal regulators last year signed off on the Velvet-Wood uranium and vanadium mine after just 11 days of review, citing President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency.
“By streamlining the review process for critical mineral projects like Velvet-Wood, we’re reducing dependence on foreign adversaries and ensuring our military, medical and energy sectors have the resources they need to thrive,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said at the time.
A coalition of more than a dozen Democratic attorneys general suing the government over the emergency declaration are now citing the Utah mine in court documents as an example of “unlawful application of emergency procedures.” Canada-based Anfield Resources, which owns the mine, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In South Dakota, Trump officials have prioritized the so-called Dewey-Burdock project in the southern Black Hills. The proposed facility would be located on about 240 public acres of a 10,580-acre project area near Dewey in Fall River County.
The Dewey-Burdock project has moved through the streamlined FAST-41 process and secured approval from the Bureau of Land Management and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which recently issued a renewed license that expires in 20 years. Developers now need state approval.
“We are looking forward to coordinating with regulators to diligently complete this next step in the process so we can begin producing clean, affordable uranium to fuel America’s energy future,” William Sheriff, enCore’s executive chair, said in a statement.
Uranium from aquifer
The Dewey-Burdock project has faced years of pushback from environmental groups and the Oglala Sioux Tribe, which is concerned about the project’s potential environmental impact.
Powertech, a subsidiary of Texas-based enCore Energy, is proposing to use ISR to extract uranium from aquifers that EPA has deemed contaminated and unsuitable for drinking water by humans or animals, according to the company’s website.
While uranium has a long history of polluting water supplies, supporters of this type of mining have argued it would be safer than an open-pit mine, and that the process doesn’t affect water quality.
On its website, enCore Energy asserts that it’s not possible for uranium extraction to contaminate the Cheyenne River or drinking water supplies for nearby towns. “The contaminated aquifer containing the uranium (and vanadium in this case) is situated in a geological structure that is contained in a unique, isolated location that allows for In-Situ Recovery extraction of uranium,” the site states.
The company did not immediately respond when asked how it would protect local water sources, but enCore’s website states that there are 24 reclaimed projects in the U.S., and that its directors have worked on 10 of those. “Licensing of Dewey Burdock requires firm plans for not only development and operations, but also for total reclamation and restoration of both the site and the affected groundwater,” the site states.
But Jeff Parsons, a senior attorney with the Western Mining Action Project who represents the Oglala Sioux Tribe and nonprofits fighting the project, is appealing the NRC’s approval of the project and challenging EPA’s approval of injection wells in court.
“There are zero examples of a company being able to actually restore an aquifer after mining,” said Parsons. “It’s a sacrifice zone.”
Red Cloud of the Oglala Sioux Tribe said he’s worried the project could contaminate aquifers within the Black Hills, a sacred area and the birthplace of the Oglala Sioux people.
The area is already plagued with polluting open-pit mines, he said, and the federal government and South Dakota regulators aren’t focused enough on future generations, water protection, reclamation, safety or the tribe’s cultural resources.
“In our history, the Black Hills is our origin story,” Red Cloud said. “It’s an area where it’s sacred, and there’s a lot of things that need to be protected.”
