Uranium circularity for EU strategic autonomy and energy security

Abstract

Nuclear energy supplies nearly 24% of EU electricity, and 95% of nuclear fuel—uranium—is imported from a handful of countries. Yet uranium is outside the EU Critical Raw Materials framework, and there is no formal circular economy strategy in place to address both resource security and waste management concerns. As the EU expands its nuclear capacity to meet decarbonisation and energy security goals, adopting a circular economy approach across the uranium supply chain becomes imperative. This report provides the first comprehensive analysis on the subject, identifying twelve circularity patterns ranging from recovering mining tailings to spent fuel reprocessing and accelerator-driven waste transmutation. A systematic review of 1,383 scientific articles reveals that circular economy research in this domain is growing rapidly but remains highly fragmented, mainly focused on end-of-life reprocessing, and stuck at medium technology readiness levels, with no study to date adopting a holistic multi-strategy perspective. Circularity is not merely an ambition: reprocessed nuclear fuel already offsets nearly 5% of annual EU natural uranium requirements, and projected secondary source use is set to triple by 2034, making recycling a concrete instrument of energy security. Moving beyond incremental measures, a holistic view of all circular strategies across the supply chain is now essential. Key EU policy actions going forward may include: funding R&I to advance circular nuclear technologies toward industrial scale and their mutual integration; addressing Euratom’s ambitions for a “circular nuclear economy” by embedding circularity as an explicit pillar in nuclear coordination mechanisms; and including uranium in the Critical Raw Materials list to establish binding targets for fuel reprocessing and supply chain resource efficiency.