While utilities used to purchase fuel as a “package deal” (and some still do), most nuclear utilities in the Western world prefer to procure fuel on a component basis, taking advantage of competitive forces at every level.

These components are uranium (in the chemical form U3O8), conversion services (the process of converting U3O8 into uranium hexafluoride, or UF6), and enrichment services (the process of boosting the proportion of the fissile isotope U-235 that drives the chain reaction).

There are active markets in uranium, conversion and enrichment, with prices quoted on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis.

The final step in turning enriched uranium into fuel for reactors is called fabrication, with most fabricators being associated with nuclear plant vendors. Although the fabrication business is intensely competitive, the process is so craft- and engineering-intensive it does not lend itself readily to “commoditization,” and prices are normally kept confidential.