SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority and Background

On August 25, 2025, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) published an interim final rule to codify standards and procedures for developing and implementing voluntary agreements pursuant to section 708 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (“DPA”), Public Law 81-774 (Sept. 8, 1950) (codified at 50 U.S.C. 4558). See90 FR 41279. As explained in that interim final rule, DOE's procedures were developed in accordance with the DPA statute and are consistent with recent Executive orders related to nuclear energy and a Presidential declaration of a national energy emergency. See Executive Order (“E.O.”) 14302 (Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base), 90 FR 22595 (May 29, 2025) and E.O. 14156 (Declaring a National Energy Emergency), 90 FR 8433 (Jan. 29, 2025). E.O. 14302 charges DOE with developing and maintaining a resilient, secure, and sustainable nuclear fuel supply chain, from mining through the management of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, for purposes of national security and energy independence.

Consistent with this charge, the DPA, and DOE's related rule, DOE held a public meeting on October 23, 2025, to discuss the development of voluntary agreements and plans of action pursuant to section 708 of the DPA. See90 FR 48268 (Oct. 15, 2025). At that meeting, DOE presented for discussion and comment a draft voluntary agreement concerning the nuclear fuel cycle that set out the broad framework to be followed with respect to furthering the goals of E.O. 14302. That draft agreement was placed in the public docket and made available for public comment. DOE also reproduced that draft agreement in the Federal Register ( printed page 51475) and solicited further public comment. See90 FR 51208 (Nov. 17, 2025).

From January 2026 to March 2026, Consortium members met to develop plans of action to implement the Voluntary Agreement. Proposals were reviewed in a closed Steering Committee session on March 26, 2026. See91 FR 17958 (April 9, 2026). Three plans of action were finalized in advance of the second public meeting of the Consortium that was held on April 23, 2026, where meeting panels were held to discuss the goals of the plans of action. See91 FR 20420 (April 16, 2026).

The text of the final version of the plan of action for The Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee follows at the end of this document.

Signing Authority

This document of the Department of Energy was signed on July 28, 2026, by Theodore Garrish, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. The document with the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the Federal Register .

Set forth below is the full text of the final version of the plan of action for the Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee.

DOE Nuclear Fuel Cycle DPA Consortium Plan of Action Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee

Authorities

Section 708, Defense Production Act (50 U.S.C. 4558); Section 161, Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 2201); Section 123, Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 2153); Section 124, Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 2154); Executive Order (E.O.) 14156, Declaring a National Energy Emergency (90 FR 8433); E.O. 14302, Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base (90 FR 22595). Pursuant to Defense Production Act section 708(f)(1)(A), the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy certifies that this Agreement is necessary to help provide for the national defense.

Participants acknowledge and agree to comply with all provisions of the Defense Production Act (DPA) section 708, as amended, and regulations related thereto which are promulgated by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Attorney General, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). DOE has promulgated standards and procedures pertaining to voluntary agreements in 10 CFR part 821. The Chairperson shall inform Participants of new rules and regulations as they are issued. Further information on definitions for terms in this Plan of Action are available in the Voluntary Agreement under “Definitions.”

Mission Statement

As the implementing body of the Nuclear Dominance—3 by 33 moonshot challenge, “Fast Forward Nuclear Dominance,” the Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee and its subcommittees are focused on how to turn material that we produce into reactor-usable materials that the utilities and end-users will buy and deploy.

Scope of Activities

The Fabrication & Deconversion Subcommittee activities will focus on ways to assess, develop, strengthen, and expand domestic nuclear fuel fabrication (and corresponding supply chain) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) deconversion capabilities in the United States, ensuring the secure and reliable production of commercial and advanced nuclear fuels.

The Recycling & Reprocessing Subcommittee activities will focus on how to establish a domestic, secure, resilient, closed nuclear fuel cycle through the operation of commercial reprocessing and recycling technologies while unlocking economic value from the fuel and isotope products recovered from Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF).

The Reactors Subcommittee will focus on accelerating reactor deployment and securing critical materials and components to support that deployment while leveraging reactor vendor market knowledge to understand how to best deliver the next generation of nuclear power plants, including small modular reactors.

Participation Criteria

The Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee members shall actively participate in designated working groups, providing subject matter expertise, data, and/or other resources as defined in their company's approved capability statement. Failure to meet participation requirements, defined as no less than 75% of scheduled meetings and timely submission of accepted deliverables, may result in suspension of membership privileges, including loss of voting rights and removal from the Committee.

The Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee will have one DOE Committee Chair who will convene the group, convey DOE priorities and concerns, coordinate activities between Participants, and ensure administration of the Plan of Action (POA). Each Committee will report through the Committee Chair all milestones and achievements.

The Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee will have two Industry Co-leads, as voted by the other participants. This role will be staggered and rotate every six months among the members of each Committee, as identified in Appendix 1 of the Voluntary Agreement.

Each Participant in the Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee will submit a short “capability statement” that maps their contribution to the Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee's goals.

The Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee intends to coordinate with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Department of War (DoW), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to ensure the highest level of collaboration and communication.

A representative of the Department of Justice (DOJ) or FTC must be in attendance at each substantive Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee meeting to provide oversight and guidance.

Committee working groups are at the discretion of the Market-Integrated Fuel Utilization Committee leadership but should be identified. The Secretary of Energy, the appropriately delegated DOE official, or their federal representative must approve in advance any substantive meeting among Participants to “discuss problems, determine policies, recommend actions, and make decisions necessary to carry out the agreement.” 10 CFR 821.4(c)(1). A representative from the federal government must be in attendance at all substantive working group meetings, as required by 50 U.S.C. 4558(h)(5) and 10 CFR 821.4(c)(4). This representative may be an appropriately delegated DOE official. DOJ and FTC must be notified of any such meetings and may also ( printed page 51476) attend, at their discretion. 10 CFR 821.4(c)(4).

Further information on effective dates and duration of participation, modification and amendment, rules and regulations, expenses, withdrawal and removal is available in the Voluntary Agreement under “Committee Participation.”

Roles and Responsibilities

Subcommittees will identify their members and contributions through identification of specific actions or activities in support of the moonshot goal. For specific information on deliverables, see Timelines and Milestones.

Framework for a Domestic Circular Nuclear Fuel Economy

Members will identify their expected contribution to this 60-day deliverable and subsequent follow-on actions identified in advance of the final Steering Committee meeting of 2026 as follows:

Design and establish the structure, eligibility criteria, and offtake terms for an Advanced Fuel Availability Program (AFAP) for domestically recycled nuclear materials, modeled on the HALEU Availability Program, and collectively evaluate and recommend the appropriate federal funding mechanism—including potential utilization of Nuclear Waste Fund accrued interest or congressional appropriations to capitalize the program.

Identify applicable existing technical standards (including relevant ASTM International standards) and agree on commercial reference terms for recovered materials and isotopes produced from used nuclear fuel recycling, thereby establishing the industry benchmarks required for project financing and federal program design.

Reactor Component Demand Aggregation

Members will identify their expected contribution to this 60-day deliverable and subsequent follow-on actions identified in advance of the final Steering Committee meeting of 2026 as follows:

Contributor: Companies to be identified.

Reviewer: Companies to be identified.

Reporting & Record Keeping

Each Committee, Subcommittee, and working group meeting shall produce a record of participants, objectives, outcomes, and next steps. All such meetings will be recorded with transcripts on Microsoft Teams. The DOE Chair will keep this record.

Any substantive meeting including more than one industry participant that is not inclusive of the DOE Chair is subject to the same record keeping and reporting requirements as a regular Committee, Subcommittee, or working group meeting.

See “Record Keeping” under “Committee Participation” and “Information Management and Responsibilities” in the Voluntary Agreement for more details on record keeping.

Timelines and Milestones

The original moonshot goals have been prioritized based upon near-term needs and opportunities as stated below. As the Consortium's work progresses, additional goals may be defined and assigned across subcommittees to address emerging priorities, gaps, and areas of opportunity. All subcommittees are expected to contribute to current priority goals while remaining positioned to support or lead future goals as identified. In addition to the 60-day deliverables below, subcommittees are authorized to take any follow-on actions to brief, clarify, supplement, or respond to Steering Committee direction arising from those deliverables, including the development of subsequent POAs.

Framework for a Domestic Circular Nuclear Fuel Economy

Within 60 days, the Committee will submit a report to DOE that provides a quantitative roadmap for federal value-based compensation model including associated funding approaches that enables a commercially viable recycling and reprocessing sector.

The report will evaluate compensation mechanisms, transportation, repackaging, title-transfer and related activities to compensate industry for reducing federal final-disposition liabilities and expanding the supply of domestically recovered nuclear materials.

It may outline the mechanics for an “Advanced Fuel Availability Program” that uses fixed-price offtake agreements to generate the bankable demand signal required for private developers to raise capital, build capacity, and deliver strategic materials at scale.

Reactor Component Aggregation

Within 60 days, the Committee will submit a report to DOE that outlines how a coordinated demand-aggregation mechanism could be established and operated to support nuclear reactors, critical reactor components, and materials markets.

The report will first define the prospective participants, the organizational home for the mechanism, and the specific materials and components covered.

The report will assess how consolidated and anonymized (where appropriate) demand-signal data can be collected, validated, and used to inform industrial-based planning.

The report will evaluate the feasibility of coordinated or pooled purchasing and any necessary safeguards to minimize negative impacts on competition.

The report will also identify contracting approaches capable of demonstrating real, quantifiable demand for priority supply-chain elements using anonymized buyer pools, collective purchasing structures, or other combined demand signals to strengthen supplier confidence and accelerate industrial-base expansion.

Antitrust Defense

Under the provisions of DPA subsection 708(j), each Participant in this Plan shall have available as a defense to any civil or criminal action brought for violation of the antitrust laws (or any similar law of any State) with respect to any action to develop or carry out this Plan, insofar as such action was taken by the Participant in the course of developing or carrying out this Plan, that the Participant fully complied with the provisions of DPA section 708 and the rules promulgated thereunder, and that the Participant acted in accordance with the terms of the Voluntary Agreement and this Plan. Except in the case of actions taken to develop this Plan, this defense shall be available only if and to the extent the Participant asserting the defense demonstrates that the action was specified in, or was within the scope of, this Plan and within the scope of the appropriate Committee(s), including being taken at the direction and under the active supervision of DOE.

This defense shall not apply to any action occurring after the termination of this Plan. Immediately upon modification of this Plan, no defense to antitrust claims under DPA section 708 shall be available to any subsequent action that is beyond the scope of the modified Plan. The Participant asserting the defense bears the burden of proof to establish the elements of the defense. The defense shall not be available if the person against whom the defense is asserted shows that the action was taken for the purpose of violating the antitrust laws. ( printed page 51477)

Prior to participation in this Agreement or a POA, Participants agree to consult with internal or external antitrust or compliance counsel about the scope of the antitrust defense as outlined herein or in any subsequent POA, as needed.

Information Sharing

Participants in this POA are bound by the requirements outlined in the Voluntary Agreement under “Information Management and Responsibilities,” which also addresses Competitively Sensitive Information (CSI) and Oversight.

All CSI provided by a Participant as described in the Voluntary Agreement is deemed CSI, except for information that:

is published or has been made publicly available at the time of disclosure by the Participant;

was in the possession of, or was lawfully and readily available to, DOE from another source at the time of disclosure without breaching any obligation of confidentiality applicable to the other source; or

was independently developed or acquired without reference to or reliance upon the Participant's CSI.

Where information deemed CSI is required to be disclosed by law, regulation, or court order, the “Competitively Sensitive” (or substantially similar) label will continue to attach to all information and portion(s) of documents that are not made public through the required disclosure.

Resources Required

Execution of this Plan of Action and its follow-on actions in advance of the final Steering Committee meeting of 2026 may require the following assets and legal mechanisms:

Direct Assets: In-kind labor, materials, and operational resources from Consortium participants.

Signatures

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Signature:

Date:

Theodore Garrish, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy

Signature:

Date:

Josh Jarrell, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Fuel Cycle

91 FR 51474