Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors purchased a total of 50 million pounds U₃O₈e (equivalent) of deliveries from U.S. suppliers and foreign suppliers during 2009, at a weighted-average price of $45.86 per pound U₃O₈e. The 2009 total of 50 million pounds U₃O₈e decreased 7 percent compared with the 2008 total of 53 million pounds U₃O₈e. Fourteen percent of the U₃O₈e delivered in 2009 was U.S.-origin uranium at a weighted-average price of $48.92 per pound. Foreign-origin uranium accounted for the remaining 86 percent of deliveries at a weighted-average price of $45.35 per pound. Australian-origin and Canadian-origin uranium together accounted for 40 percent of the 50 million pounds. Uranium originating in Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan accounted for 29 percent and the remaining 17 percent originated from Brazil, Czech Republic, Namibia, Niger, and South Africa. Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors purchased uranium for 2009 deliveries from 29 sellers, down from the 33 sellers in 2008. Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors purchased uranium of several material types. Uranium concentrate was 69 percent of the deliveries in 2009; natural UF6 and enriched uranium were 31 percent. During 2009, 17 percent of the uranium was purchased under spot contracts at a weighted-average price of $46.45 per pound. The remaining 83 percent was purchased under long-term contracts at a weighted-average price of $45.74 per pound. Spot contracts are a one-time delivery (usually) of the entire contract to occur within one year of contract execution (signed date). Long-term contracts include those with one or more deliveries to occur after a year following the contract execution (signed date) and as such may reflect some agreements of short and medium terms as well as longer term.

In 2009, owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors signed a total of 86 new purchase contracts, of which 51 were new spot contracts and 35 were new long-term contracts with deliveries of 75 million pounds U₃O₈e from 2009 through 2019. For the 2009 deliveries of 8 million pounds, there were 40 new spot purchase contracts and 4 new long-term purchase contracts.

As of the end of 2009, the maximum uranium deliveries for 2010 through 2019 under existing purchase contracts for owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors totaled 261 million pounds U₃O₈e. Also as of the end of 2009, unfilled uranium market requirements for 2010 through 2019 totaled 242 million pounds U₃O₈e. These contracted deliveries and unfilled market requirements combined represent the maximum anticipated market requirements of 503 million pounds U₃O₈e over the ten year period for owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors.

In 2009, owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors delivered 52 million pounds U₃O₈e of natural uranium feed to U.S. and foreign enrichers. Fifty-two percent of the feed was delivered to U.S. enrichment suppliers and the remaining 48 percent was delivered to foreign enrichment suppliers. Seventeen million separative work units (SWU) were purchased under enrichment services contracts from 7 sellers in 2009. The average price paid by the owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors for the 17 million SWU was $130.78 per SWU, an 8 percent increase compared with the 2008 average price of $121.33 per SWU. In 2009, the U.S.-origin SWU share was 24 percent and foreign-origin SWU accounted for the remaining 76 percent. Russian-origin SWU was 32 percent of the total. France, Germany, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom had an aggregate share of 36 percent. Uranium in fuel assemblies loaded into U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors during 2009 contained 49 million pounds U₃O₈e, compared with 51 million pounds U₃O₈e loaded during 2008. Eleven percent of the uranium loaded during 2009 was U.S.-origin uranium, and 89 percent was foreign-origin uranium.

U.S. suppliers (brokers, converters, enrichers, fabricators, producers, and traders) and owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors purchase uranium each year from foreign suppliers. Foreign purchases totaled 59 million pounds U₃O₈e in 2009, and the weighted-average price was $41.23 per pound U₃O₈e. Also, U.S. suppliers and owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors sold uranium to foreign suppliers. Foreign sales totaled 23 million pounds U₃O₈e in 2009, and the weighted-average price was $41.48 per pound U₃O₈e. The 2009 foreign sales increased 36 percent compared with the 2008 foreign sales total of 17 million pounds U₃O₈e. Year-end commercial uranium inventories represent ownership of uranium in different stages of the nuclear fuel cycle (in-process for conversion, enrichment, or fabrication) at domestic or foreign nuclear fuel facilities. Commercial uranium inventories owned at the end of the year by owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors in 2009 totaled 84 million pounds U₃O₈e, an increase of one percent from year-end 2008 and 29 percent from year-end 2005. Overall, total U.S. commercial inventories (including inventories owned by U.S. brokers, converter, enrichers, fabricators, producers, and traders) was 110 million pounds U₃O₈e as of the end of 2009. Uranium inventories owned by U.S. brokers and traders were 13 million pounds U₃O₈e. U.S. converter, enrichers, fabricators and producers owned 13 million pounds U₃O₈e of inventories at the end of 2009.