The company building America’s uranium supply from scratch

The U.S. nuclear industry faces a critical supply chain bottleneck due to heavy reliance on foreign uranium enrichment, particularly from Russia. With a federal ban on Russian imports taking effect in 2028, domestic production of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) is essential for fueling both existing reactors and next-generation small modular reactors. Scott Nolan, founder of General Matter, is addressing this by constructing a modern, cost-competitive enrichment facility in Paducah, Kentucky. By adopting a lean, in-house engineering and construction model, the company aims to bypass the stagnation and high costs that have historically plagued large-scale nuclear infrastructure. Nuclear energy remains the cleanest and safest baseload power option, and achieving cost-competitiveness through rapid, modular deployment is the primary lever for scaling the industry to meet the surging electricity demands of data centers and industrial sectors.